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THE RECENT PAST 



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FROM A SOUTHERN STANDPOINT. 



Reminiscences of a Grandfather. 



"FORSAN ET H/EC OLIM MEMINISSE JUVABIT. 1 

5 RICHARD H. WILMER, 



BISHOP OF ALABAMA. 



SECOND EDITION. 



NEW YORK: 
THOMAS WHITTAKER, 

2 AND 3 BIBLE HOUSE. 
I8S7. 



Copyright, 1887, 
By THOMAS WHITTAKER. 



Inexeh, 
P, of C. Pitb. Ub. 



10 



RAND AVERY COMPANY, 

ELECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS, 

BOSTON. 



THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO 

ftfje CTanse of Erutfj, &iflt>t, antj $eace, 

IN LOVING MEMORY OF 

ALL WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR ITS MAINTENANCE; 

AND IN BROTHERLY RECOGNITION OF ALL 

WHO LIVE TO VINDICATE AND 

DEFEND IT. 

"The wisdom which cometh from above is first pure, then peaceable. 



TITLE. 



When I had concluded to give public expression 
to the thoughts contained herein, I found it difficult to 
determine upon a title for the volume. Publishers told 
me that the country was flooded with " Reminiscences," 
and that the people took no interest in them, and that 
" there is every thing in the name." 

I first thought I would call it " Old Mortality ; " for- 
getting, for the moment, that that name had been illumi- 
nated and immortalized by the genius of Scott. So I had 
to abandon that idea. Yet it will be found that in these 
" Reminiscences," I have plied the same vocation with 
" Old Mortality." As was his wont, I have been going 
lovingly and reverently among the graves of our heroic 
and sainted dead. It has been a grateful task for me to 
pluck a nettle here, and plant a flower instead; with 
sharp incision to freshen up some fading inscription ; to 
remove the moss and lichen with which time was in- 
crusting them, and cause the very gravestones once 

5 



6 TITLE. 

more — In Memoriam — to speak aloud the names and 
deeds of those who, in our hearts and memories, should 
never die. 

Let this my purpose incline the youth of this genera- 
tion to dwell fondly upon "Reminiscences" dedicated 
to "the Cause and Maintenance of Truth, Right, and 
Peace." 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preliminary 9 

LOYALTY 

Citizenship 2 ° 

The Constitution 2 4 

War of the States 27 

Domestic Slavery 37 

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" 4* 

The Church Question • • 49 

Church in England S 2 

Church in America 57 

How the Church was planted in America .... 59 

John Stewart of Virginia 6 7 

Different Religious Bodies in the United States . S3 

Roman, or Latin, Church 8 7 

The Presbyterian Communion 93 

Baptist Friends 99 

The Methodists UI 

Conclusion of Matters pertaining to Religious 

Organizations "4 

Scepticism, Rationalism, and Scientism "8 

Post-Bellum Reminiscences x 39 

Intrusion of the Military Power J 39 

Re-union of the Churches North and South ... 147 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

A Reply to Bishop Hopkins's Circular Letter to 

the Southern Bishops, by One of their Number . 153 

Note by Bishop Green 166 

Rev. William H. Wilmer, D.D 166 

Reminiscences of Right Rev. J. P. B. Wilmer, D.D., 

LL.D., Late Bishop of Louisiana 180 

The Late Bishop Elliott of Georgia ...... 201 

Reminiscences of the Right Rev. Nicholas Hamner 

Cobbs, D.D 242 

Conclusion 271 

Appendix 278 



REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER 



PRELIMINARY. 



"Now the days of King David drew nigh that he should die; and 
he charged Solomon his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth: be 
thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man ; and keep the charge of 
the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His 
commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is writ- 
ten in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, 
and whithersoever thou turnest thyself." 

Man, as the things of time recede from sight, 
and he is preparing to depart for his long home, 
would fain stamp immortality upon something. 
The thought of annihilation is fearful. If his own 
life has been a failure, he will hope that his pos- 
terity may make amends for his own misdoings : 
if his life has yielded any good fruit, he may hope 
that they will bring it to perfection. 

With some such feelings I have jotted down, 
from time to time, the incidents and reflections 
contained in these "Reminiscences." At the 
time of writing them, I had no view to publica- 
tion, as will appear from their personal character 

9 



10 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

and familiar style. I thought, that, after I had 
gone the way of all the earth, my children and 
children's children would derive pleasure and 
profit from knowing the thoughts of one whose 
memory they cherished, and who had lived a long 
life during an eventful period of the country's 
history. 

But some friends, — partial friends, perhaps, — 
who have run their eyes over the manuscript, 
warmly urge its publication, saying that no exist- 
ing book covers exactly the same ground with 
these " Reminiscences." Yielding to their wishes, 
I send the volume forth, to add a drop more to the 
flood of publications which is sweeping on to swift 
and sure oblivion. 

There is one word which I must say at the out- 
set, in order that my language and position may 
be clearly understood and fairly interpreted. 

I speak plainly of matters political, sectional, 
social, and ecclesiastical — of Northern and South- 
ern men, etc. The spurious charity of these lat- 
ter days demands from me a degree of reticence, 
caution, and suppression which I have not exer- 
cised in these pages, and which I deem utterly 
inconsistent with that divine charity which "re- 
joiceth in the truth." Men are not candid enough 
with each other. They will attack each other in 
secret, but they will not talk face to face. This 



PRELIMINARY. II 

may beget a sort of love, and pass for charity, but 
it is not the love which is "without dissimulation." 
In my judgment, many errors abound, and acquire 
a sort of respectability because they are not can- 
didly and charitably exposed. Truth is not so 
hard to find as men think. Error is founded in 
ignorance, prejudice, pride, and passion. Let 
"knowledge with fervent charity" prevail, and 
men will be drawn nearer together in heart and 
mind. All else will fail save charity. Temporary 
fraternizations, — such as those among the denomi- 
nations, — where all consent to suppress some con- 
viction by way of a truce, discard the very element 
of love which " rejoiceth in the truth." Aggre- 
gations of men bound together by mechanical ap- 
pliances only, fall to pieces for the want of that 
cement of love which is " the very bond of peace 
and of all virtues." 

Judged by the modern ideas of charity, I trust 
that I shall be condemned as an uncharitable man, 
for I enjoy the ill judgment of some people ; but, 
judged by a higher standard, I hope to stand ac- 
quitted before God, even as I am in all conscience, 
for "rejoicing in the truth." 

When, then, in these pages I speak of the North 
and Northern men, I have not in my eye that large 
body of people whose culture, refinement, and 
large-hearted generosity challenge my admiration, 



12 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

and has oftentimes elicited my personal gratitude. 
" 0, si sic omnes ! " But I speak of that fanatical, 
and at times dominant, element, which having 
waged a destructive war (and for that it becomes 
me to make no moan), and after having destroyed 
our wealth, and laid waste our territory, and revo- 
lutionized our domestic and political life, persist- 
ently aims at our humiliation, still plies us with 
ignominious epithets, and, to use a vulgar current 
phrase, "still waves the bloody shirt." 

I was written to some years ago by an editor of 
the North, who wished to know the reason for the 
solidarity of the South, and whether I, in my posi- 
tion, could not write or do something to dissolve 
it. He must have been "an innocent," or thought 
me one. The weather at the time was cold be- 
yond precedent, and our waters were frozen over. 
I replied to him in one sentence : " The solidarity 
of the South is due to the same cause that just 
now makes our water solid, — unfriendly breezes 
from the North." 

Again, when I speak of "denominational bodies 
of Christians," I have not in view that noble 
army of learned, devout, and zealous Christians of 
nearly all names, whom I feel all too unworthy to 
call brethren ; for I would love to sit at the feet of 
some of those men, and learn from them how to be 
more like our common Lord and Saviour, by Whose 



PRELIMINARY. 1 3 

blood we were all redeemed, and of Whose life, I 
trust, I am partaker with them. No ! I have not 
such men in my eye ; they are of the " Brother- 
hood," whom I am glad to love ; and my very love 
for them causes me to contend for, and rejoice in, 
the truth, which would bring us all together, and 
make us one in Christ Jesus, even as He and the 
Father are One. Then we should not, as un- 
happily we are now doing, "live apart" but 
" dwell togctlicr" in unity. 

No! I am speaking of communities — humanly 
organized, as they appear to my eye — which, 
without adequate cause or warranty, have created 
sects and divisions in Christendom, thereby 
breaking the line of the Church Militant, and 
enfeebling its power of resisting the combined 
power of Satan and his hosts. His kingdom is 
not divided. The divided Church feels now the 
force of the shock from his concentrated assaults. 
I speak earnestly and in unmistakable language 
on this point. We cannot promote unity by 
thinking or speaking lightly of divisions among 
Christians. No malignant evil was ever remedied 
by treating it as a matter of no consequence. If 
there be ever any real movement towards Chris- 
tian unity, it must be preceded by some clear and 
distinct conviction of the nature, causes, and guilt 
of schism. 



14 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

Meanwhile "this Church" of ours, recognizing 
every baptized man as a member of Christ, offers 
to meet Christendom on the broad platform of the 
Holy Scriptures, the ancient Creeds, the divinely 
ordered Sacraments, and the Apostolical ministry. 
Rome would meet us there to-day by discarding 
her new doctrines, and becoming catholic, as she 
once was. But I am somewhat anticipating. 

One chief reason for giving these reminiscences 
to the public, is that I may help to keep sacred in 
the memory of the rising generation the traditions 
of their fathers. A new generation ordinarily 
little cares for, and little acquaints itself with, the 
past. This results in part from the fact that 
ordinarily parents concern themselves too little 
with the opinions of their children on matters 
past, present, or to come. I do not share this 
indifference. I have a special fear that our young 
people, as they recede farther and farther from our 
times, will gather their views of the recent past 
from partisan histories rather than from sacredly 
preserved traditions. The school-books and his- 
tories of our times are, as a general rule, from 
Northern sources : their authors naturally look 
at all these matters with other eyes than ours. 
I cannot endure to think that any descendant of 
mine shall open, say, a catechism, and find Benedict 
Arnold, Jefferson Davis, and Robert E. Lee chosen 



PRELIMINARY. 1 5 

out to exemplify Treason and Rebellion. It was 
bruited abroad that there was such a catechism, 
but I can hardly believe without ocular demon- 
stration. I want our young people to know what I 
know, — that the two men last named in the list of 
" traitors " were men who exemplified through life 
every trait of honor and loyalty. 

Nor can I endure to think that my grandsons 
shall be set down to read histories which tell 
them that their ancestors were " tyrants to their 
servants," "rebels against their government," and 
"traitors to their country." So far as in me lies, 
this shall never be ; and shame to every man who 
loves not to pluck the nettles from the graves of 
his sires, and strew them with flowers ! 

As it regards myself, I have saved much time 
and correspondence by putting these thoughts 
in print. To every-day letters -and inquiries, I 
shall be enabled to say, "Here in this volume is 
what I think upon such matters." We have in 
our midst many earnest and ingenuous young men, 
who respect the memory of their fathers, some 
of whom, alas ! are buried on unknown battle- 
fields. They come to me, and say, " My father is, 
stigmatized in these books and newspapers as a 
'rebel' and a 'traitor:' how is this?" — "Well, 
my son," say I, "if your father was a rebel, I was 
one, and so was every cultured man of the Far 



1 6 -REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

South, almost without exception. Here in these 
' Reminiscences ' is our view of this matter." 

I suppose that few will read these pages, save 
those who sympathize with my views. To such 
persons I am enabled to say, if you wish your 
children to understand and reverence the tradi- 
tions of our people, you may possibly find in this 
volume some thoughts that may help to keep 
green in their memories the days of " Auld Lang 
Syne," and warm and sacred in their hearts recol- 
lections of " The Old Folks at Home." 

LOYALTY. 

The thoughts, which I now submit for considera- 
tion in the following pages, were written for your 
eyes alone, and not with any idea of publication. 
Whilst writing my will, and leaving some few in- 
junctions to you, the question came across my 
mind, Why should not a father tell his children 
more of his opinions of the times in which he 
lived, and thus enable them to gather his views 
upon questions of deep concernment to all genera- 
tions ? Following out this thought, I have herein 
set down for your consideration the conclusions 
which I, in common with men of my class and 
position, have reached upon matters — some of 
them, at least — of enduring interest. You are 
now reading, and will continue to read, the his- 



LOYALTY. 17 

tories of the past and present day ; but you can- 
not gather with satisfaction the tone and temper 
of an age from any general history. We glean 
from some works of fiction — say Scott's novels 
— clearer ideas of the times of which they are 
written, than you can possibly do from any gen- 
eral history of the same era. It is quite notable 
that Scott's novels are hardly fictions, and his 
history of Napoleon is almost a falsehood. Scott's 
genius has illuminated his native land through his 
novels. 

It is commonly said that one generation can 
only bequeath knowledge and treasure to that suc- 
ceeding it. This is, in the main, true. Wisdom is 
to be won in the battle of life, each gaining it for 
himself. Knowledge is cumulative ; so is wealth. 
But when children ponder lovingly the thoughts 
of their forefathers, there must be some small 
residuum of zvisdom deposited besides the knowl- 
edge gained. At all events, I have given you these 
reminiscences in the hope that I may — not fetter 
the minds of my descendants, for they should be 
wiser than he who writes these lines, but — keep 
them on the right track of thought, and hold them 
true and loyal to the traditions of their forefathers. 
This sentiment of loyalty is a necessary part of 
an integral character, as is conscience, although, 
like conscience, liable to be ill instructed, mis- 



1 8 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

guided, and even perverted. One cannot be a 
whole man, who is without loyalty. It is the 
cement of home, the bond of society, the defence 
of states, — yea ! the essence of piety. To cherish 
it, and guide it, and instruct it, is a large part of 
education. 

Loyalty does not hold one slavishly and unques- 
tioningly to the traditions of one's family and 
country, for then men could never change and 
never improve. And there is, necessarily, no vio- 
lation of loyalty in departing from transmitted 
and hereditary ideas. For if one changes the 
opinions which he received by inheritance, be- 
cause convinced that his ideas were not well 
founded in truth, and takes hold of those things 
which he believes to be true, howsoever at vari- 
ance with inherited convictions, such a one is, in 
the highest sense, loyal — loyal to Him who is 
Truth. The lower gives way to the higher ; the 
less gives place to the greater ; the reverence for 
the earthly merges in the reverence due the heav- 
enly — as the moon and stars become invisible 
when the sun rules the day. Therefore I like it 
not when I hear it said, " I will not go back upon 
my father's or my mother's opinions or creed." 
The sentiment which inspires such declarations is 
most praiseworthy; but if the parents unfortu- 
nately were in error (and the best parents, as all 



LOYALTY. 19 

admit, are liable to err), it binds one to error, 
which is disloyalty to truth. Thus, a misguided 
loyalty may end in actual treason. Better to say, 
" My parents, with the light they had, held such 
and such an opinion. With the light before me, 
I cannot hold the same opinion. With my light, 
they would, in all probability, have come to a dif- 
ferent opinion. I cannot go back upon them, but 
I must go forward from them, and move with the 
ever-moving world nearer the ' Father of Lights,' 
with Whom, and Whom alone, there is no 'varia- 
bleness or shadow of turning.'" I write this 
much that my children may not misunderstand me 
in what I shall hereinafter advise them. I shall 
give them my counsel, and I know that they will 
weigh it well ; and this is all that I can properly 
claim at their hands. I only wish them to be 
clear in this; viz., "Follow truth and right 
always." That means to follow Him Who is the 
Truth. That is the meaning of that mighty 
declaration, "Whosoever shall love any thing — 
houses, lands, father and mother, wife and chil- 
dren — more than Me, is not worthy of Me." 
The world might exist without the light of the 
planets, but how without the light of the life- 
giving sun ? He who most loves the truth 
and the right, will most honor his parents, for 
honor and reverence to parents is a part of the 



20 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

truth. The whole of the truth is very vast 
indeed. Draw near to it, my children, embrace it, 
cleave steadfastly unto it ; let its arms be around 
thy neck, its kiss upon thy forehead ; plant thy 
feet upon it, and let it be a crown of glory to thy 
head. As thou art true, so shalt thou be. 

CITIZENSHIP. 
Let us look around about us. Perhaps I should 
begin more properly with the individual, and talk 
to you about the man, his body, soul, and spirit. 
If I live to complete this letter, I may, perhaps, 
touch all these several points. But just now I 
feel more disposed to treat and get rid of cer- 
tain matters of a more general description, hoping 
that as I get nearer the end of life, and get more 
of the light that streams from the "Delectable 
Mountains," I may have more to tell you of that 
other country for which we are all bound, and on 
the confines of which I know that I am now 
standing. Of this, more anon. I want now to 
say something about your earthly citizenship. No 
man liveth to himself. He is a member of society, 
and under government. The books of history 
and geography which you may read will give you 
all that you need to know in a general way 
about the several continents and countries, etc. 
I let all that pass, only observing that histories, as 



CITIZENSHIP. 2 1 

a general rule, arc one-sided, partisan, and partial, 
recording the facts from many various and con- 
flicting stand-points, insomuch that we are often 
compelled, with Pilate, to exclaim, "What is 
truth ? " To go into this matter (at any sufficient 
length to make it profitable), I find impracticable. 
Let it suffice for me to say this much : The his- 
tory of one age is pretty much the history of all 
ages ; that which hath been, is now, and until 
something, as yet unknown to history, shall inter- 
vene, will most likely continue to be ; and there 
is, so far as human nature is concerned, " nothing 
new under the sun." 

There is one matter about which I feel especially 
solicitous that you should be rightly informed ; and 
that is, the political history of your own country, 
and section of country. We have passed through, 
during the last twenty-five years, a mighty revolu- 
tion. That revolution effected a mighty change 
in the character of our government and institu- 
tions. It is most important for you to understand 
the merits of that conflict of ideas which con- 
vulsed the minds of the people, North and South, 
and finally culminated in a sectional war, which 
turned a million of men to ashes, and covered the 
whole land with mourning. Even at this present 
moment, as I write, we seem to walk on molten 
lava, whose surface is scarcely cooled. Your 






22 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

father, who is writing these lines, was deeply 
and passionately involved on the side of his State 
and section ; ready, if his ministerial calling had 
not forbidden, to have shouldered his musket, and 
entered the fight. As it was, under a temporary 
access of passion, he became captain of a home- 
guard, and drilled daily, while yet rector of a 
church near Richmond, Va. I mention this to 
give you an idea of the intensity of the excitement. 
Your grand-uncle, the Rev. Lemuel Wilmer, who 
was, as he viewed it, an ardent patriot, wrote me 
after the war was over, that, when Maryland was 
invaded, he went to Washington with musket on 
his shoulder, and took his place in the trenches. 
He was then an old man, and had been rector of 
Port Tobacco Parish for half a century. I refer 
to this incident to show you that some of our 
blood still live up to the motto on the family coat- 
of-arms, — " Facit quod suscipit" A little reflec- 
tion served to cool the heat of my fever, and 
turned my attention to a more legitimate sphere 
of action. Besides, I read that the " Son of man " 
— whose servant I was — "came, not to destroy 
men's lives, but to save them;" and I read also, 
that " the servant must be as his lord." While the 
war lasted, I did what I could for the wounded 
and the sick, and blew the trumpet to excite men 
to action in the field ; taking as my warranty for 



CITIZENSHIP. 23 

doing this much, the permission given to the Jew- 
ish Priesthood, "to blow the silver trumpets in 
case of a war of invasion." You will have read, 
and will continue to read, as they are published, 
many histories of that conflict. I do not wish to 
so bias your minds as that they shall not take a 
calmer, and perhaps clearer, view of that conflict 
of ideas and of arms than I, from my position, 
could be expected to do. Your own views on 
this matter will, and must, depend, in great meas- 
ure, upon the description of books that you are 
likely to read. Owing to the fact that the North 
does most of the publishing of books, — and es- 
pecially of school-books, — you will most likely at 
school be in a situation to imbibe Northern ideas 
of the origin, causes, etc., of the whole revolution; 
to hear many whose names have stood high for 
learning, character, and for all that makes up true 
nobility, characterized as "rebels," "traitors," 
and the like ; and a great, though ineffectual, 
struggle for right and compact denounced as 
"The Great Rebellion." Well, if all this was as 
our enemies allege, I have no wish to so forestall 
your minds with opinions to the contrary as to 
close them to the entrance of the truth. For 
truth, like the King's messenger, has authority to 
enter the mind and the heart " in the name of the 
King" Our only privilege is, to inquire whether 






24 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

it is the King's messenger. To guide you in 
such an inquiry, and to dictate not at all, is the 
object of this writing. 

THE CONSTITUTION. 
When we look back to the early history of the 
United States, we find that certain colonies, 
peopled from the British Isles, for the most part, 
were stretched along the Atlantic coast. Disaf- 
fection sprang up among the colonists, principally 
because of taxes laid upon the people, without 
privilege of representation. By little and little, 
they came at last to war. The conflict was waged 
with varying fortunes for some years. Epithets 
of "rebels" and "traitors," etc., were as freely 
applied to our forefathers on the part of the 
Mother Country, as by the North to ourselves in 
our so-called "Rebellion." The issue, as you 
know, was decided in favor of the revolting colo- 
nies, whose "Declaration of Independence" was 
made good by the arbitrament of war. These 
colonies, thus set free to govern themselves (their 
independence as separate States having been ac- 
knowledged by Great Britain), soon began to cast 
about for an alliance among themselves closer 
than that of the " Articles of Confederation " 
which they had adopted. The materials to be 
united were in some respects heterogeneous, their 



THE COXSTITUTIOX. 25 

interests somewhat conflicting, and their ideas of 
the government to be formed widely variant. 
However, after much debate, they finally united 
under the "Constitution of the United States," 
— the same instrument that now exists, except 
(besides some amendments made soon after its 
adoption) the important and radical changes which 
resulted from the war between the States. I do' 
not purpose going into a minute history of the 
events which led to this consummation, nor to 
touch upon the original differences of opinion 
which required to be harmonized and adjusted 
before the Constitution found general acceptance 
and adoption. Two quite equally divided parties 
struggled for the mastery, — the one contended 
for a strong central government, the other for a 
more decided recognition of the sovereignty of 
the several States. The result was a Constitution 
which aimed to embody both features, and it re- 
quired a bloody war to settle the meaning of the 
Constitution. In other words, the party which 
could bring the greatest number of soldiers into 
the field had their own way in interpreting the 
meaning of the Constitution, and thus, practically, 
the question concerning the power to secede was 
for the time determined ; the question of original 
right under the Constitution not being, by gun- 
powder, determinable. 



26 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

Let me digress for a moment at this point, to 
pay my willing tribute to the genius of Alexander 
Hamilton, in my judgment, the largest-minded 
statesman that this continent has produced. Ham- 
ilton was the leader of the Federal party, and con- 
tended for a government with such centripetal 
power that it could not fly to pieces in the revolu- 
tion of affairs. Had his principles fully obtained, 
and been ingrafted in the Constitution, — or, rather, 
had been made the framework of the same, — 
questions of secession could not have well arisen, 
or at least could not have arisen upon an interpre- 
tation of the Constitution. His broad views of 
human affairs, and his far-seeing sagacity, taught 
him that all confederated sovereignties tended to 
consolidation. His views, if they had to the full 
prevailed, would have rendered impossible the 
agitation of secession, as a right under the Con- 
stitution. Consolidation has taken place, but by 
war. He wanted it to take place, and to hold 
its place, by original formation. His ounce of 
prevention would have saved many pounds of 
cure. The history of nations, without exception, 
goes to show that there is no longevity in con- 
federated or united sovereignties, — in proof, the 
Saxon Heptarchy, the principalities of Germany, 
the republics of Italy, the Dukedoms of France, 
etc. But Hamilton's views did not wholly pre- 



WAR OF THE STATES. 27 

vail. All such differences as existed between 
him and the opposite party were settled by the 
adoption of a compromise Constitution, recog- 
nizing enough of State sovereignty to keep up 
the idea of separate and independent action on 
the part of the several States, and, at the same 
time, absorbing so much power, denned or implied 
in the Federal Government, as to cripple the 
States, and render them helpless in an hour when 
they might attempt to redress a wrong, or, if that 
seemed hopeless, to fly for safety— secede was 
the word used to express the idea. Whether the 
original Constitution was the best that could have 
been framed, is one question ; how it was really 
made, is quite another. Had the idea of the Fed- 
eralists prevailed fully, the question of right to 
secede could never have arisen. But it did not 
fully prevail. Thus, antagonistic views existed as 
germs in the very Constitution itself, and bayo- 
nets were called in to skewer the people together. 
An examination of the present Constitution as 
amended by war has somewhat of a post-mortem 

character. 

WAR OF THE STATES. 

But how came the Southern States to secede, 

and which section of the country must bear the 

responsibility of the work of its consequent 

horrors ? A vast question indeed, and one upon 



28 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

which libraries will be written before new events 
shall have buried this question among other dead 
issues. 

The ablest and fairest exposition of this ques- 
tion, in my judgment, is from the pen of Jefferson 
Davis, President of the Confederate States while 
they lasted. It is a calm and statesmanlike re- 
view of the whole subject-matter. Davis will be 
pilloried in Northern histories as an " arch-rebel," 
and traitorous to the core. So much for the 
truth of partisan history ! While, on the con- 
trary, his whole history will show that he was a 
calm, clear-headed, and large-hearted man, chosen 
in the hour of need for his known merits, and on 
the strength of his history, which was not obscure 
nor ignoble. That he failed, was not extraordi- 
nary ; that he held out so long, was the marvel. 
I write from much knowledge of the man. If 
you would understand him and the history of his 
times, read his book, " The Rise and Fall of the 
Southern Confederacy," — unanswered and unan- 
swerable, as we of the South think. 

But there was a feature in the history of the 
Southern struggle for independence which you 
must understand in order to do justice to your 
ancestors in regard to the part which they felt 
constrained by their interest, by their sense of 
personal self-respect, and by their loyalty, to main- 
tain to the end. 



WAR OF THE STATES. 29 

Slavery existed in the United States at an 
early day. It was not confined to the Southern 
section. Northern vessels brought the slaves 
from Africa, and they were held in bondage when- 
ever it was found profitable to hold them. The 
climate of the South best suited the native Afri- 
can, and his labor was found more profitable upon 
a Southern soil. Consequently, the larger popu- 
lation of slaves were gathered in the Southern 
section of this country. They constituted the 
greater part of the wealth of the Southern States. 
Their status must be provided for in the Constitu- 
tion, and thus a guaranty be afforded that the 
Southern States should be protected in the pos- 
session of their property. For a while things 
went on smoothly ; but, very soon, strong and 
fanatical ideas began to take possession of North- 
ern minds. It manifested itself in every possible 
way, — in efforts to legislate slavery out of the 
District of Columbia ; in efforts to circumscribe 
the area of slavery by excluding it from the Terri- 
tories, the common home and property of the 
peoples of all the States ; in incendiary pam- 
phlets ; in books of fiction ; in books for the school- 
room ; in organizations for kidnapping slaves, and 
helping them to their freedom ; in fierce debates 
upon the floors of Congress, and at last in an inva- 
sion by armed men of the soil of Virginia, with 



30 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

implements of war to arm the emancipated slave. 
This last event occurred in October, 1859. And 
there are living men who enroll the leader of that 
murderous band in the noble Army of Martyrs. 
God help them ! Up to this time the General 
Government had committed itself to no act which 
could be construed as offensive and aggressive 
towards the South. But events rapidly progressed. 
The abolition spirit had grown with great rapidity 
and intensity. It soon became a political power, 
then a political party, and finally succeeded in 
electing a President upon a platform of principles 
which was undisguisedly hostile to Southern insti- 
tutions and property. With the more violent 
members of the " Republican " party, — for such 
was their name, — the " Constitution " of the coun- 
try (a solemn compact between the States, and 
the sole guaranty under which the Southern 
States held their institutions) was denounced as 
a " Covenant with Hell" because it protected the 
South in their property. In some instances State 
legislation obstructed by penal laws the restora- 
tion of slaves, a right to which had been secured 
in the Constitution. The question now arose, — 
and it was a question so large, and involving so 
much that was dear and valuable, that it stirred 
every heart, — " What shall we do ? Hitherto we 
have been able to appeal to the General Govern- 



WAR OF THE STATES. 3 1 

ment. That Government will soon be in the 
hands of men, the most violent of whom will 
without scruple invade our rights." "Shall we 
secede, and live to ourselves?" said the believers 
in the right of secession. " Shall we wait, and 
see whether the incendiary will apply his torch ? " 
said the more timid and cautious. " Shall we go 
out from the Union as separate States, or shall 
we act with others ? " said the more wary co-oper- 
ant. " Shall we wait until we receive the blow, 
or shall we give it ourselves ? " said the multitude. 
Such were the questions that agitated every 
family circle throughout the country. Peojole 
answered this question, as people always do, ac- 
cording to their kind — each after his own order. 
Some thoughtful and far-seeing men saw at a 
glance that if a movement were to be made, it 
should be made at once. They argued, that, if 
you saw a man about to enter your premises with 
harsh and dangerous intent, it would not be wise 
to wait until he had struck you down before you 
took measures of self-defence ; and they con- 
tended that the attitude of the Republican party, 
now for the first time in power, with all their past 
history and utterances to interpret their intended 
deeds, was hostile, and would be aggressive, and 
that the Constitution of the country would no 
longer be a shield and defence to them. But, on 



32 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

the other hand, there were other men, equally- 
sincere, who loved the Union with a deep devo- 
tion (such men as Bishop Meade and General 
Lee), and who were willing to sacrifice all, save 
honor, to their country's cause. In a word, some 
were for going out at once, some for waiting, some 
for temporizing, some few for yielding. Mean- 
while, events moved fast. State after State se- 
ceded. The believers in State sovereignty 
esteemed it loyalty to follow the action of their 
respective States. Following the logical sequence, 
they scrupled not to seize upon the fortresses at 
the mouths of their harbors. They argued, and 
with reason, that these fortresses were erected 
for the defence of the cities which they protected ; 
they were builded in part with the money of the 
people whose interests they were designed to 
guard, and were the common property of the 
States which they respectively defended. Now, 
it looked as if the General Government was about 
to use these forts to injure the Southern States. 
They were proceeding to garrison and provision 
them for war. — notably, the Fortress of Sum- 
ter, which protected the city of Charleston, and 
also commanded the city with its guns. The 
Federal Government manoeuvred so as to make 
the South seem to take the initiative in the con- 
flict. By an attempt to re-enforce Fort Sumter, 



WAR OF THE STATES. 33 

which, in effect, meant to batter clown Charleston, 
they compelled the Southern troops to fire the 
first gun, and thus secured the prestige which, on 
the surface, made the South appear to be the 
aggressive party. This fired the whole North, 
brought out a proclamation for troops by the 
President of the United States, and thus was 
fired in turn the heart of the South ; and the 
whole country was plunged into a sectional war 
with an intensity of passion which has seldom, if 
ever, had its parallel in history. All thought of 
continued Union vanished from the mildest and 
most conservative men. Henceforth the Union 
man in the South was reckoned to be traitorous, 
and was so branded. In the Far South, with the 
exception of a very few, every Southern man of 
honor and character and standing ranged himself 
under the banner of his own State. The whole 
country was in arms, and very soon, as the his- 
tories of the time will show, in mourning. The 
war was fierce, bloody, and protracted. The 
issue, although at times looking favorable to 
the South, was not long doubtful. The North 
had population, arms, and access to the world. 
The Southern ports were blockaded, powder had 
to be made or smuggled, and she was shut out 
from the world to her own resources. Besides, 
her population, originally smaller than that of the 



34 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

North, was divided. Nearly all of the Southern 
border States furnished men to the Federal Gov- 
ernment ; and, in the progress of the war, the 
negroes by tens of thousands were enlisted by 
their emancipators. Thus, a small remnant fought 
nearly the whole nation. In the progress of the 
war, the North refused to exchange prisoners ; 
and, inasmuch as they had the most men, the 
South suffered most from this barbarous policy, 
compelling us to keep a large number of prison- 
ers when we had hard work to feed our own men, 
and then, forsooth, making the prisoners, whom 
they held, responsible for the alleged privations of 
the prisoners for whom they would not exchange. 
The policy was to swap down on the part of the 
strongest side. But this is a long story, and con- 
temporary history is full of mutual criminations 
and recriminations. The fact is, however, that 
the records show more deaths proportionately 
among the prisoners in Northern hands than 
among those in our hands ; and this is a sufficient 
answer in the large to the charges of cruelty to 
prisoners, which you will read of in Northern his- 
tories. But I must not dwell longer on this mat- 
ter. A word, however, upon two points before 
leaving this subject. 

I spoke of the firing on Fort Sumter. North- 
ern history expatiates on that fact, and iterates 



WAR OF THE STATES. 35 

and reiterates the words, "The South fired the 
first gun." It sounds as if it had some meaning ; 
but it is all sound, and signifies nothing. "Who 
was the aggressor ? Who compelled the first gun 
to be fired ? Who imperilled first the solemn 
compact between the States ? " The whole ante- 
cedent history will fasten the blame elsewhere. 
If a man attacks me with gun in hand, and I 
shoot quicker than he does, it is true that I fired 
first ; but, if he had not made the aggressive move- 
ment, there would have been no gun fired at all. 
The approach of the fleet to re-enforce Sumter 
ignited the match that fired the first gun. An- 
other illustration. A boy puts a chip on his head, 
and dares another to knock it off. Instead of 
knocking the chip, suppose he knocks the head, 
which, if fighting be allowable, is the wisest pol- 
icy. After the fight, the boy with the chip can 
say truly that the other hit the first blow. It is 
true ; but, if he had hit the chip first, he would 
have received the first blow. But, when men are 
angry, nothing but fight will cool their blood ; and 
fight they did, most lustily. History records no 
more gallant struggle under more gallant leaders 
than the South made. The issue being against 
us, multitudes changed their opinions, and said, 
" They must have been striving against right, or 
God would have given them the victory." But 



36 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

such reasoning cannot hold. It proves too much. 
Right, in the end and long future, will get its re- 
ward, but in ways and modes of God's own ordi- 
nation, and not after man's measurements or 
upon men's small balances, which are not equal to 
judge and weigh such magnitudes as are involved 
in the divine plan with nations. I attempt to 
rescue a child that has fallen into the sea. I 
struggle manfully to save it, but I am drowned in 
making the attempt. It does not follow at all 
that I did wrong in making the effort to save the 
child. I would have failed much in duty if I had 
not made the effort. This is very plain, when 
applied to a small and familiar matter. It is 
equally true, if not equally plain, in the greatest 
matters. We fail to see it in great matters, be- 
cause we cannot see far enough, and, particularly, 
because we estimate success by pitifully small 
standards. A man often saves his whole life by 
losing his physical, his present, life. Life must 
be estimated, not only by its extent, but by its 
intent ; not only by its length, but by its breadth 
and depth. He who gives his life unselfishly for 
another, or for right or truth or honor, in the true 
sense of that word, has not lost, but has saved, 
his life. On the other hand, he who can look on, 
and see right and truth, or even a human life, 
threatened and imperilled, and make no effort to 



DOMESTIC SLAVERY. 37 

help, may, in a sense, have saved his life ; but he 
has, in the deepest sense, lost it. He has already 
lived too long for his own good. This, now, my 
children, is an illustration, in the small, of great and 
eternal principles. Never measure duty or right 
by worldly and utilitarian standards. Some day, 
I hope, you will rejoice if you shall have to give 
your life a sacrifice to duty and truth. The life 
of our dear Lord was a great failure, tried by the 
worldly standards of His day. But where was 
there ever such a life, even upon principles of 
utility, when viewed in the large ? When I think 
of the pure and noble-minded men who died on 
fields of battle for the South (and I withhold not 
my meed of recognition of like-minded men who 
were ranged on the other side), — men whom I 
knew and loved — Christian men, who gave them- 
selves, life, and all, for what they deemed to be 
duty, — I cannot hope for any better portion than 
to be permitted to range myself by their side "on 
the other banks of the river." 

DOMESTIC SLAVERY. 
Now, a word about another matter that I briefly 
touched in a former page, — Domestic Slavery! 
It was the occasion of the war in a certain way, 
and it was done away with as one of the results of 
the war. The time will probably come when my 



38 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

descendants will look back, and wonder how their 
grandfathers could have held human beings in 
bondage. 1 I am concerned that they who come 
after me shall have some idea of the institution 
of slavery as it existed in Virginia ; for I was 
more conversant with its character as displayed 
in the older States, where it was more patri- 
archal, less profitable, and in all respects milder, 
than in the South-western States, where absen- 

1 If it shall be regarded as an unpardonable offence to have held 
human beings in bondage, let it be borne in mind that it was an offence 
shared originally by all the United States. 

There lies before me, as I write, a little newspaper (about eight 
by twelve inches in size) entitled 

"THE NEW ENGLAND WEEKLY JOURNAL." 
" Monday, April 8th, 1728." 

In the column of advertisements of sermons, tracts, etc., I see the 
following : — 

" SUP" A very likely Negro Woman, who can do Household work, and 
is fit Either for Town or Country Service, about 22 Years of Age, to 
be sold. Inquire of the Printer hereof." 

"SIP" A Very Likely Negro Girl, about 13 or 14 Years of Age, 
speaks good English, has been in the Country some Years, to be sold. 
Inquire of the Printer hereof." 

(Spelling and capitalization as in the paper.) 

I have inserted the foregoing advertisements with the hope that they 
may serve as " conductors " to convey some of the lightning wrath of. our 
Northern unfriends quietly and harmlessly to the ground. The Southern 
States would never have received cargoes of slaves but for Northern ves- 
sels, and Northern people kept them in bondage as long as it was profit- 
ab/e so to keep them. The philanthropy which sweeps away at a breath 
the wealth of other people, involves a very easy and cheap humanity. 



DOMESTIC SLAVERY. 39 

teeism, that curse to the laborer, was more 
common. If you will read the allegations from 
the Northern side, and at all believe them as 
truly descriptive of slavery as it existed in the 
large, you will believe — to draw it mildly — a 
very large lie. That there were cases of oppres- 
sion and violence and grievous wrong, is not to 
be doubted ; for some men, in all countries and 
all ages, will be violent and oppressive — even to 
their wives and children. But because there 
have been cases where slaveholders have inflicted 
cruelty and wrong upon their slaves, it no more 
proves that cruelty was the characteristic of slave- 
holders, than it proves that men in the Northern 
States habitually maltreat their families, because, 
every now and then, some brute kicks to death 
a wife or child. People will be to their families — 
to their wives, children, and servants — what they 
are themselves. If kind and just in character, 
they will be just and kind to all around them. 
Then, superadd to this consideration the fact that 
men in the large consult their interests, and that 
it was greatly to their interest to treat their 
slaves well, and you have, besides the charac- 
ter of the owner, his clearest interest to treat 
well all his dependants. Slavery — like matri- 
mony from the husband — takes its character from 
the master. If he be just and kind, his rule will 



40 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

partake of those characteristics. So with the 
father in his family, etc. As an illustration of a 
certain class of Northern ideas on this subject, 

— shortly after the war, I met with an honest- 
hearted man from the North. We fell, naturally, 
into conversation on the subject of domestic 
slavery. He asked me, " Is it true that in the 
South you were accustomed to hitch your negroes 
to the plough, and drive them?" He asked the 
question seriously. I asked him, "How many 
negroes would it take to draw a plough to any 
purpose ?" — "Eight or ten, I calculate," said he. 
"Well," said I, "how much is a mule worth?" 

— " One hundred dollars," said he. " How much 
was a negro?" — "One thousand dollars," said he. 
"Well," said I, "do you think — to say nothing 
of our kind feelings towards our negroes — that 
we had no more sense than to use ten negroes, 
which were worth ten thousand dollars, to do a 
work which a mule, costing one hundred dollars, 
would do better?" — "Why," said he, "I never 
thought of that." — "Of course you didn't," I 
said : " there are many things of which you never 
thought on the same subject." The above is a 
pretty fair specimen of the notions of some igno- 
rant and fanatical minds, many of which were 
wider still from the truth. 



"UNCLE TOM'S CABIN." 4 1 

"UNCLE TOM'S CABIN." 
There was a book, written by Mrs. Stowc, — 
a sister of the celebrated Henry Ward Beecher, — 
which had an immense circulation, and exerted 
a powerful influence. It was a work of fiction, 
entitled "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It was written 
with considerable ability, and was, in some re- 
spects, a most attractive and thrilling narrative. 
It collected together many incidents illustrative 
of the cruelty with which slaves were said to be 
treated in the South. They may have been true, 
or not true. You can find similar incidents in all 
the relations of life, in all ages, and among all 
people. Yet — strange to say — the book, if care- 
fully analyzed, speaks volumes in favor of that 
which it was written to condemn. It was, essen- 
tially, a specimen of feminine logic. But let me 
explain. Shortly after the war I was in New 
York, and met with an old acc^iaintance. The 
conversation turned upon domestic slavery. I 
asked him how it was that the Northern mind 
had become so thoroughly abolitionized ; telling 
him, that when I was a youth, pursuing my studies 
at old Yale, the abolitionists were few in number, 
and not of much social standing. He replied, 
that, in his judgment, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" — 
the book above referred to — had as much to do 



42 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

with the growth of a bitter feeling against slavery 
as any other agency, and asked me if I had ever 
read the book. " Of course I have," said I : 
"we all read it, and in some respects admire it — 
chiefly, its power as a work of fiction. If it pre- 
tends to describe slavery as it generally existed, 
it is pretty much a work of falsehood." "But 
yet," I continued to say, "very few have ever 
pondered that book, and extracted its truest and 
deepest meaning." — "As how?" said he. "In 
this way," I answered. "Tell me who was the 
most striking character in that book for honesty, 
fidelity, and piety ? " — " Why, ' Uncle Tom,' of 
course," he said, — " one of the finest characters 
I ever read of!" — "Yes," I said, "he was; but 
who was Uncle Tom ? Was he not a slave ? and 
does not the book go to show, that, if you want 
to find the best specimen of honesty and piety 
among servants, you must seek him among the 
slaves ? Africa did not produce him, does not now 
produce him. We think that domestic slavery 
tended to the production of just such a charac- 
ter ; fostering the instinct of obedience, from 
which spring reverence and faith. Be this as 
it may, I can say this much without contradiction, 
— that, according to Mrs. Stowe's book, slavery is 
not incompatible with the highest development of 
honesty and piety in the slave." He pondered my 



"UNCLE TOM'S CABIN." 43 

remark for a moment, and said, "Of course, I must 
admit that much : it is so written in the book." 

— "Well, again," said I, "who was the most 
attractive character in the book?" — "Eva," he 
said, " one of the most lovely of her sex, gentle 
and refined, — a beautiful character indeed." — 
" Who was Eva ? was she not a slaveholder ? " — 
"Yes, she was." — "Then," I replied, "in so far 
forth as that book is concerned, if you want to 
find a specimen of a peculiarly gentle and refined 
young woman " (Eva was the young lady of the 
house in which Uncle Tom served), "you must 
seek for her among slaveholders. We have an 
idea that the relation between those two parties 

— the young mistress and the old servant — 
tended naturally to the production of the qualities 
described in them both. At any rate, you must 
admit, that, according to Mrs. Stowe, refinement 
in the woman is not incompatible with the posi- 
tion of ownership in slaves." — "Yes," he said, 
" I cannot but admit that much : it is so set down 
in Mrs. Stowe's book." — "And now, once more," 
I continued, "who was the worst character in the 
book?" — "Why, Legree," he answered, — "a 
vile and cruel man." — "Who was Legree? was he 
not a Northern man who came South, trafficked 
in slaves, and maltreated them?" — "That is all 
so," he answered. I then wound up the conver- 



44 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

sation by saying to my friend, " Then, the gist 
of the book is this : if you want a good, honest, 
and religious servant, seek him among the slaves 
— find an Uncle Tom ; if you want to see a 
glorious specimen of womanly loveliness, seek her 
among the slaveholders — find an Eva: and keep 
every Down-Easter from having any power over 
the poor creatures. Mrs. Stowe's book must be 
held responsible for this conclusion." A profound 
silence ensued, and a profound silence should 
reign for a while among the chatterers on this 
subject. For all that was beautiful in that con- 
dition of society has passed away. And there 
was something beautiful in the relation between 
the parties — especially in the care taken of the 
young and the old. Beautiful and just and benig- 
nant was the patriarchal condition of slavery in 
the "Old Dominion." All gone, or going — the 
honest and loving-hearted Uncle Tom, the lovable 
Eva; fast going — the faithful old mammy, the 
decent and comely maid-servant, reverence, obedi- 
ence, faithful service, and Uncle Tom piety — 
all vanishing into space ; and what have we in- 
stead ? Conflicts of races, animosity and distrust, 
jealousy of capital, suffrage without sense, reli- 
gion without morals, service without reverence — 
Gog and Magog — the old war between oppres- 
sive capital and discontented labor — he that runs 



"UNCLE TOM'S CABIN." 45 

may read ! I say this, without fear of just contra- 
diction, that slavery, as it existed in my time, in 
the State of Virginia, — I say Virginia, for I was 
born and reared in that State, — presented the 
justest and fairest condition of society that I 
have ever seen or read of. The same was true, 
I doubt not, in other Southern States. Compare 
the condition of the slave laborer with that of any 
class of people in similar employment in other 
lands. Read of the condition of the manufacturing 
and laboring classes anywhere. The condition of 
the slave in the Old Dominion showed a larger 
remuneration for labor, and a kinder treatment, 
with a comfortable provision for old age. Alas ! 
poor old black man now ! I think I can say, with 
entire truth, that the large majority of slaves at 
Christmas Eve were well housed, well fed, well 
clothed, with something extra in the pocket. 
There were exceptions, of course, but inapprecia- 
ble in a large view. Where is the parallel, in any 
country, among white laborers of same condition ? 
But when the issues of the war emancipated 
the black, and Republicanism clothed him with 
the rights of American citizenship, including that 
of suffrage, the South handed over to the coun- 
try millions of people of African descent, pre- 
pared, in the judgment of a majority of the 
people of this country, to exercise the duties 



46 REMINISCENCES OF A GRAND FA THER. 

and enjoy the privileges of said citizenship. 
These were the "down-trodden slaves," so-called! 
What Christian mission has ever accomplished 
the same result on the coast of Africa ? How 
is it with the Indians ? If there be any truth 
in the coming histories of this country, such 
facts as these will not long be silent, but will 
speak in tones most eloquent of the benignant 
and civilizing power of domestic slavery. My 
heart warms even now as I recall the past, and 
there come up before me the memories of my 
childhood and early manhood ; of the dear old 
mammy who took me into her arms, and made me 
sit in her lap, and eat of the buttermilk and the 
ash cake with apples in it, which with loving 
hands she had made ready for her "young master " 
when he came back from college. You, my chil- 
dren, who shall spend your lives in the Southern 
States, and shall take part in the effort to adjust 
the social and domestic life to this new order of 
things, will some day, I fear, be forced to appre- 
ciate what I have said of the past, and anticipate 
for the future. As yet, while I write these lines, 
we have some few of the old folks left. They 
have all of our love and respect. These have not 
yet learned to look distrustfully upon the friends 
of their childhood. Fond memories still bind 
them to their white friends. As to the young fry, 



"UNCLE TOM'S CABIN." 47 

who arc not taught reverence and subordination, 
what is their destiny ? I shudder to think of it. 
I hope that I may be mistaken. God knows that 
I am doing all in my power to avert the impend- 
ing danger. But what can you hope for in the 
large, from a people, who, by their own confes- 
sion, know little of the virtues of chastity and 
honesty ? Would they come under the influence 
of a religion which makes "things which are 
true," "things which are honest," "things which 
are just," the foundation of their religious charac- 
ter, then we might hope to see a superstructure 
of "those things which are lovely and of good 
report." 

But, alas ! thrown off to themselves, — espe- 
cially in our rural districts, where they outnumber 
the whites, — their religion oft becomes a cari- 
cature, not far short of the Fetichism of their 
native Africa. 

The Church could help them, and is now put- 
ting forth more energy on their behalf; but 
alas ! they cling to their own devices, and will 
have none of her ways. 

We read and hear — usque ad nauseam — of 
the brutalizing and debasing effect of slavery upon 
the character of this people. All their degrada- 
tion is referred to this relationship. Orators and 
pamphleteers expatiate upon the theme, until 



48 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

some people actually begin to believe there is 
something in it. But whence, and when, and 
through what period of time, came their present 
comparative advancement ? It was not in Africa, 
nor from Africa, that the influence came which 
elevated him from the savage state. The white 
man goes to Africa, and has to write out a 
language for the natives. As a people, they 
have little inventive power. They seem to make 
slow, if any, advancement in their native land. 
Even under civilizing influences in their own 
country, they develop slowly and doubtfully. Yet, 
under the auspices of servitude in the Southern 
States, millions have been raised to American 
citizenship, which is denied to the ever-free Indian. 
If they were not fitted for it, what a shame to 
have given them power to dominate the white 
race, as they did in some localities ! If they were 
so fitted, what a tribute to the elevating influences 
of Southern slavery! 

And their citizenship was accomplished by a 
vote of a majority of the people of the United 
States ! 

I say nothing in vindication of slavery in its 
origin. It was a foul wrong, shared alike by 
North and South, and to be repented of by both 
sections with works meet for repentance. It was 
a foul wrong to sell Joseph into Egypt, and after- 






THE CHURCH QUESTION: 49 

wards to enslave his descendants there. Yet out 
of this wrong the wonder-working providence of 
God wrought good unto Israel. So may it be in 
the case of Africa in America ! I say nothing 
regretfully of the fact — not the manner — of the 
negro's emancipation. I am doing, as I have always 
done, all in my power to help him in every man- 
ner. I am alike a debtor to the bond and the 
free. But I do maintain, and that without fear of 
reasonable contradiction, that the negro's present 
civilized condition and capability is due to this 
cause, — that he was brought closely into relations 
with the white men — and the best white men — 
in his state of servitude. -The closer the relation, 
— as in the family, — the more marked the ad- 
vancement ! Here is a fact which should be 
deeply pondered by those who love and seek the 
truth ; viz., that the slaveholding population of 
the Southern States were, for the most part, men 
of standing and culture, imbued oftentimes with 
a chivalry of spirit which forbade unkindness to 
the slave who lived under his roof, who ate of 
his bread, and hearkened unto his voice. A true 
Southern man will not be unjust to his dog. 

THE CHURCH QUESTION. 
But I have to jot down some thoughts upon 
higher and more enduring themes. The king- 



50 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

doms of men come to an end : vast empires, that 
once swayed the destinies of the world, are known 
only on the pages of history. They rise, fall, and 
utterly come to naught. They are of the things 
of time, and perish with time. You, my children, 
will have a high duty to perform in being good 
citizens, in upholding law and the administration 
of law. It is a part of one's religion, as well as 
loyalty, to be law-abiding citizens. Our country, 
now peaceful after a bloody war, may continue so 
for years ; but there are existing elements of con- 
flict which will become explosive whenever the 
population becomes dense enough for ignition. 
The Old World is pouring in its tide of popula- 
tion — peoples of all religions and no religions — 
all jumbled in a mighty mass. What will come of 
it all, who can tell ? One thing seems most cer- 
tain, — that human affairs move forward, and not 
backward. The state of the world, at this writ- 
ing, is doubtless better, on the whole, than at any 
former period of time, and there is no good reason 
for supposing that it will take a retrograde move- 
ment. You will have to adjust yourselves to the 
era in which you live, keeping a true manhood, 
whatever the issue. That will bring a man peace 
at the last : that makes the man. 

But I must pass to the consideration of God's 
Kingdom — the Church of God. " Of that king- 



THE CHURCH QUESTH 5 I 

dom" — as you have been taught to rehearse in 
the Nicene Creed, — "there shall be no end!" 
My great desire is that my children should have 
an inheritance in that Kingdom, and ever be 
associated with it as I and my fathers were. The 
whole matter, as you may easily suppose, has 
been my lifelong study, and I want you to have 
the benefit of my thoughts and conclusions there- 
upon. You will find the religious world much 
divided. I cannot speak of all the existing organi- 
zations, — for their name is Legion, — but I desire 
to put before you in a general way the attitude of 
that branch of the Church in which I have been 
reared, and of which you have been made members 
by baptism — the attitude, I say, of this Church 
towards the rest of Christendom. Its name is 
"The Protestant Episcopal Church," and it may 
be interesting to you to learn that this appellation 
was suggested by one of your ancestors. The 
name is not a felicitous one, but has a noble record 
and a roll of great men. This Church, as all your 
reading will show, is an offshoot of the Established 
Church in England, deriving its orders from that 
Church, also its Liturgy and usages. We must 
go a little back to inquire into the history of the 
Mother Church, before proceeding to outline the 
particular relation of her daughter to the religious 
world around it in this country. 



52 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 

The Church of Christ was planted in England 
at a very early day — most probably by one of the 
apostles of our Lord. This you will find in any 
early history of the English Church. Represen- 
tatives from the British Church were present at 
the councils of the Church at a very early day 
(A.D. 325), long before the unhappy division took 
place which separated the Eastern from the 
Western Church. 

Rome, being the controlling power of the world 
for a long period of time, became, naturally, the 
centre of other influences, religious as well as 
political. The bishop of Rome, sustained by the 
civil and military power, had no great difficulty in 
obtaining ultimate recognition as the supreme 
ecclesiastical power in the west of Europe. Eng- 
land held out against her jurisdiction as long as 
possible, but finally acknowledged the supremacy 
of the bishop of Rome in things spiritual. Au- 
gustine, a missionary under Rome, went to Eng- 
land, and found the southern part of the king- 
dom — inhabited by the Saxon race — without the 
Christian faith. The British Church already ex- 
isted when he put his foot on the coast of England. 
Little by little, in the course of time, the Church 
in England came under the domination of the 



CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 53 

Pope. It went sorely against the spirit and tem- 
per of our English forefathers to acknowledge 
fealty to any foreign power, civil or ecclesiastical. 
They fought against it as long as possible, but 
had at last to yield. It was this spirit of jealousy 
against the intrusion of a foreign power, which 
made it so easy at a subsequent period to throw 
off the yoke which was to so many, even Roman- 
ists in doctrinal matters, a galling servitude. But 
a new era dawned. Books became multiplied, and 
knowledge was more generally diffused. The 
" Great Reformation " took place. 

I must say a word about that great movement, 
of which all history of that age is so full. Henry 
VIII., the king of England at the time, was far 
from being a pattern of good morals. He was im- 
perious and lustful. A decision of the reigning 
Pope of Rome crossed his purposes, and Henry 
asserted — as he had the right to do — the inde- 
pendence of the Church in England. The claim 
of the bishop of Rome, to exercise jurisdiction in 
England, had no divine, but simply a human, sanc- 
tion. The yoke, therefore, was thrown off — as it 
had been put on — by human hands. It was a 
right and lawful thing done, although done by 
a bad man. This often happens. The wrath and 
the lust of men are often overruled to work out 
most gracious purposes. We are often twitted with 



54 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

the taunt that Henry VIII. was the founder of the 
English Church ; whilst the fact is, that it existed 
centuries before Henry's day, and has existed 
centuries since. The same bishops exercised 
jurisdiction in England before and after the Ref- 
ormation. There was no break in the line of 
Bishops whatever. The Church in England did 
not cease to be catholic because she then cast 
off many uncatholic doctrines and usages which 
had become incrusted upon her. Henry VIII. 
was ever a Roman Catholic in heart and doctrine. 
No prevailing doctrine was changed or modified 
during his reign. In fact, he won his title of 
"Defender of the Faith," for fighting Reformed 
Doctrines. God made use of his imperiousness 
and impatience of will to throw off a foreign yoke, 
which had been wrongly imposed and reluctantly 
worn by the great mass of English people. This 
emancipation set free the minds of men, and 
Henry's successors to the throne favored the 
mighty change which was being wrought in the 
religious mind ; and thus it was, by little and little, 
as light and knowledge were vouchsafed, that the 
Church in England came out of the wilderness of 
superstition, cleansed from many corruptions, and 
stood forth, and now stands forth, the zealous 
maintainer of the Faith and Discipline "once de- 
livered to the saints." Wherever her influence 



CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 5 5 

extends, light and knowledge are diffused, peoples 
are elevated, freedom is proclaimed, law is admin- 
istered, and righteousness prevails. Take the map 
of the world. Look at the nations under Romish 
rule — Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Ireland, and 
Mexico. What keeps these people in the back- 
ground ? What makes the difference in Ireland 
between Romanists and Protestants ? Spain was 
ahead of England at the era of the Reformation. 
Englishmen studied in her schools of learning. 
But Spain extinguished the dawning light of the 
Reformation in the lurid glare of the Inquisition, 
and Spain has decayed from that day. The spirit 
of the Roman Church is calculated to undervalue 
the exercise of reason, and to arrest the spirit of 
inquiry, which has so stimulated scientific investi- 
gation, and made this age so fruitful in knowledge. 
Of course, this spirit may be carried too far, and 
may lead to mere rationalism. But what may not 
be carried too far ? You cannot fertilize a spot of 
land without stimulating the growth of weeds, 
but you also cannot make the best kind of grain 
without fertilization. So, of the printing-press — 
it brings many bad thoughts to the mind, but it 
also brings the best thoughts out. It is a bad 
sign when any system or man avoids the light. 
" Let there be light," was the herald-cry in chaos, 
and chaos departed when the light came. The 



56 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

best test of the truth of any system, when you 
can make a large enough induction, is that fur- 
nished by our Lord, — " By their fruits ye shall 
know them." As a church influencing laws, liter- 
ature, and morals, we do not fear to challenge 
Christendom. England is what she is, mainly 
through the Church in England ; and, to this hour, 
she exerts a more enlightening and benignant in- 
fluence upon the world than any other Nation. 
It will not do to turn from a large survey of her 
influence, and taunt her with being reformed by 
such a man as Henry VIII. She was deformed 
by that monarch. He was the foul spot that dis- 
figured that era ; but, as the rust, he ate away the 
chain that bound the Church to the court of 
Rome, and let her go free for her glorious mission 
of evangelization and civilization to the remotest 
islands of the sea. Flings at Henry, and twittings 
about his part in the Reformation, come with a 
bad grace from the Roman Church, which has 
preferred men to honor and to the highest places 
in her gift, — even the so-called chair of St. Peter 
(when it is doubtful whether the holy apostle ever 
sat in it), — men, I say, in comparison with whom 
Henry might be canonized as a saint. Read any 
history of the Popes (e.g., Ranke), and you will 
return to the pages of Henry's life with a sense 
of relief, bad as that life was. When you sum 



CHURCH IN AMERICA. 57 

up all that the Church of England has done, 
in literature, in science, in learning, in works of 
beneficence, in sacredly preserving the word of 
God, in translating it for the peoples of the world, 
in disseminating the righteous principles of law 
and equity, in diffusing a spirit of freedom, and, 
with it, the needful checks and balances of gov- 
ernment, we may well thank God for our English 
blood and traditions, and cherish them all as the 
priceless inheritance from our fathers, and at the 
same time, next to that imposed by the knowledge 
of salvation, the weightiest responsibility that rests 
upon us. 

CHURCH IN AMERICA. 

Let us come down a little in our review to the 
planting of the American colonies : chiefly from 
Great Britain they were planted. We see some- 
times a spirit of rivalry and jealousy on the part 
of some American people towards the mother 
country, — a sentiment always unwholesome and 
ungracious, but peculiarly so when directed 
against our motherland. Our ancestors found 
nothing precious on these shores, save the land 
and the riches beneath it. That was a divine 
gift, and demands unspeakable gratitude. What 
else did they find ? They brought with them 
their blood, lineage, language, laws, literature, and 
thousand-fold traditions, all of which moulded 



58 REMINISCENCE'S OF A GRANDFATHER, 

for them the new life and institutions in their 
newly found country. The wigwam of the Indian 
did not furnish forth the equipment with which 
our forefathers began the battle of life on the 
American continent. The principles of liberty 
and the knowledge of religion were not found here, 
but were brought here. The battle which settled 
the rights of men was fought on British soil, and 
won by our British ancestors. The particular 
form of government established here, after inde- 
pendence was secured, was the outgrowth of cir- 
cumstances in large part ; but the foundations 
and principles of our government were laid by 
statesmen who had drank deep at English foun- 
tains, and were trained in the traditions of Eng- 
lish sires. Let it never be forgotten by my 
children, that the sons of Englishmen and of Eng- 
lish churchmen were the great men — the giants 
— who fought the war of the Revolution, and 
laid the foundations of the American Republic. 
Time would fail me to enumerate them. Glance 
at the names of a few in the honored list, — 
Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Marshall, and a 
host of others — " clara et venerabilia nominal So 
it was in the unsuccessful conflict for Southern 
independence, — Davis, Lee, Johnston (Joseph E. 
and Albert Sidney), and an innumerable host of 
greater or lesser lights. Nor is this at all acci- 



CHURCH IN AMERICA. 59 

dental. It comes by operation of a law, — the 
law of elective affinity. There- is something of 
combined grandeur and simplicity in the spirit 
and services of the Church, which irresistibly, and 
oft unconsciously, draws to it such men (not 
raised in the Church) as Clay and Webster, for 
example. Besides, the training in the Church 
tends to the production of such men. The great 
men among the Methodists (such as Wesley and 
Whitefield, etc.) had Church mothers, and were 
early taught in the Church catechism, and baptized, 
confirmed, educated, and ordained in the Church. 

HOW THE CHURCH WAS PLANTED IN AMERICA. 
The Church of England clergy (there being at 
that time no Bishops this side of the water) were 
ordained in England, and were under the jurisdic- 
tion of the English Church until the close of the 
Revolutionary war. You will find a full account 
of the whole matter in " Bishop White's (the first 
bishop of Pennsylvania) Memoirs." Bishop Sea- 
bury was consecrated Bishop of Connecticut by 
the bishops of the Church in Scotland. Bishop 
White of Pennsylvania, Madison of Virginia, and 
Provoost of New York, were consecrated by the 
bishops of the Church of England (the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury acting as consecrator in his 
chapel at Lambeth). Thus the Apostolic succes- 



60 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

sion was derived by this Church. Dioceses have 
sprung up through the whole land. Several of 
the States each comprehend at this writing, two 
or more Dioceses, the State of New York at this 
time five. 

It is often asked, " How is it that this Church, 
claiming, as it does, the elements of a pure 
catholicity, should have failed to have gotten a 
stronger hold upon the great body of the people 
in this country ? " The question is an important 
one, and demands a fuller answer than these 
" Reminiscences " seem to call for. If the failure 
referred to were the result of any want of adapta- 
tion on the part of this Church to meet the needs 
of the great mass of the people, it were a fatal 
defect. But it is not so. In the mother country, 
the poor equally with the rich meet at her altars. 
In the rural districts, prince and peasant receive 
together her teachings, and unite in her liturgy. 
The manufacturing-towns are the homes of Dis- 
sent. There the social jealousy and the impa- 
tience of subordination and the spirit of vulgar 
self-assertion most abound, and there Dissent is 
rife. The Roman Church has but little hold 
upon the native masses in this country, and she 
imports her poor. I refer to this fact because we 
are constantly taunted with the reproach of hav- 
ing no poor in our churches, and shallow people 



CHURCH IX AMERICA. 6 1 

— and most people are shallow — are made to 
think that the Church careth not for the poor. 
There is another view. Should the Church have 
so many poor ? Should she not enlighten and 
elevate them ? Should not the hovels of our 
laborers be made more comfortable, even if our 
churches were less gorgeous ? Our system en- 
courages giving to, and not taking from, the poor. 
Would not "our Father," who "careth for the 
poor," have it so? 

I cannot suppress a very instructive incident. 
Passing once up the Alabama River, I fell into 
conversation with a gentleman of the Romish per- 
suasion. After some talk, slightly sprinkled with 
controversy, he observed, " I do not think, sir, 
you can doubt that our Priests are more assiduous 
in the discharge of their duties than Protestant 
ministers are." — "I have not been struck with 
the fact, if it be a fact," I replied. "Now," said 
he, taking up a newspaper which he had been 
reading, "here is an account of a man who was 
hung near Philadelphia the other day. Who was 
on the scaffold with him, and giving him spiritual 
direction ? None of your Protestant preachers, 
sir, — a priest, a Catholic priest." — "That's 
exactly where he ought to have been," I sug- 
gested. "Why, sir?" — "Because it was one of 
his flock that was to be hung. I have never 



62 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

myself refused to attend one of my flock to the 
scaffold, because I have not been called upon. 
The Church should save her sheep from such an 
ending." Let Peter pay pence to Ireland, and 
Ireland may not have to seek succor from 
America. 1 Protestant Irish seem to be thrifty. 
They cultivate potatoes rather than politics. 

The situation of the Church in these United 
States is peculiar. Many of the old families — 
notably in New York, Maryland, and Virginia — 
were, as a matter of course, almost always (except in 
Maryland, where the Roman Catholic element was 
unusually large) Church families. In the wild set- 
tlements, there is always an undue jealousy of social 
distinctions on the part of the laboring class ; 
and they prefer to congregate among those of 
their own order, where their means of living, mode 
of life, style of dress, and topics of thought and 
conversation, are more alike. As an instance : 
My first parish was along the banks of the James 
River, beginning about thirty miles above Rich- 
mond, and extending some fifty miles towards 
Lynchburg. The families attending my services 
at the beginning of my ministrations were almost 
exclusively from the class of wealthy planters. 
In the vicinity of my churches were Baptist and 
Methodist houses of worship, and there congre- 
gated the overseers and small farmers from the 

1 See note on page 294. 



CHURCH IX AMERICA. 63 

hill country. These people knew nothing of 
Church doctrine or order, but they wanted to asso- 
ciate with folk of their own condition and pur- 
suits. The men wanted to gossip with their 
fellows, and their wives and daughters wanted 
their bonnets and gowns to be as good as their 
neighbors'. The effect of democratic institutions 
and the extension of suffrage and the abolish- 
ment of privileged orders was wonderfully rapid 
among the people of this country. 

There is much discussion nowadays as to the 
question, "How to get hold of the masses." You 
can't do it at all by any system of operations of a 
mechanical character. There is a repulsion on 
their part, and produced by the very spirit of envy 
and jealousy and self-assertion which the Church 
tries to put down and eradicate. It can only result 
from a larger measure of that Divine influence 
which eradicates self, and inspires a thirst for truth. 
A minister, who himself is deeply imbued with 
the Divine gift, and has power and tact, can work 
wonders with this repelling prejudice, as he can 
with the other powers of darkness. And that is 
our only hope just now, — a faint one, I must con- 
fess. But, besides this indwelling spirit of social 
jealousy with its attendant ills, there were pecul- 
iar difficulties with which this Church had to con- 
tend in her earlier history in this country, — 



64 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

difficulties which laid the foundation of sectism 
deep and broad. The clergy of this Church were, 
as a general rule, Englishmen. The Church itself 
went by the appellation of " The English Church" 
We had no bishops and no seminaries — every 
thing was English. War with England filled the 
whole country with animosity against every thing 
" English " — church and state. A tide of odium 
and unreasonable hate went like a wave over the 
whole country, and threatened to ingulf all sacred 
memories that commonly attach men to the land 
of their forefathers. The Church suffered griev- 
ously for a long time, and has not to this day ral- 
lied from the shock received. The Clergy, many 
of whom were Englishmen by birth, returned to 
their native land, thus leaving many parishes 
vacant. Many of those who remained during the 
continuance of the Revolutionary war were incom- 
petent, and, as is the case oftentimes with colo- 
nial ministers, were men of little character. A 
long interval ensued before bishops were set apart 
for America. The consequences of all this were 
disastrous in the extreme. Parishes went rapidly 
to decay ; legislation confiscated church property, 
the gift of the crown or of English land-owners ; 
popular prejudice ran fiercely against her institu- 
tions because they were stigmatized as "English." 
The masses of people became alienated. Method- 



CHURCH IN AMERICA. 6$ 

ism, then vigorous and aggressive, strongly ap- 
pealed to the passions of the people. The landed 
gentry of the country still clung to the Church as 
the church of their fathers. They had intelli- 
gence sufficient to enable them to distinguish 
between the Church and the action of the British 
Government, which was so hateful to the colo- 
nists. But the zeal of the few remaining adher- 
ents to the Church was languid. They were 
uninstructed from Sunday to Sunday : they were 
rather disposed to fight for the Church than to 
live for it. With some few and striking excep- 
tions, the state of things was as given here. You 
may judge of the low condition into which the 
Church had fallen from this fact, which I had from 
Bishop Meade of Virginia : He, in connection 
with my father (William H. Wilmer, D.D., after- 
ward president of William and Mary), and one or 
two other earnest men, made united effort to 
revive the Church in Virginia. They first united 
in calling Bishop Moore to be their bishop. They 
took steps, also, to raise an endowment for a theo- 
logical seminary, and carried it through. The 
theological seminary near Alexandria, Va., is the 
result of the effort then inaugurated, the instruc- 
tion of students being first given in my father's 
house in Alexandria. Whilst going through Vir- 
ginia soliciting funds for this object, Bishop 



66 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

Meade (who was then a young man) applied, 
among others, to Judge Marshall (Chief Justice 
of the United States Supreme Court) for aid. 
The judge replied that of course he would not 
withhold his contribution. It was his church, 
and that of his forefathers, but he thought the 
idea of resuscitating it in Virginia was hopeless ; 
and he expressed himself as full of regret that 
a young man of family and talent, as Bishop 
Meade was, should throw away his life in so 
quixotic an undertaking. " The Old Chief " (as 
Judge Marshall was familiarly called among his 
intimates) did not live to see the glorious future 
which has opened for the Church in Virginia 
from the dark and apparently hopeless condi- 
tion in which he knew it. The clergy of Vir- 
ginia can now be found in all countries of the 
world nearly. One of her sons is bishop of 
Japan : another was a bishop of Africa, and he 
succeeded a Virginian in that bishopric. Seven- 
teen of her sons, born on her soil, are, or have 
been, bishops of dioceses in the United States. 

But I have digressed. I started with the view of 
showing how it was that the Church in this coun- 
try had so slender a hold of the masses. I said 
that it was not due to any lack of adaptation on 
her part to the needs of the more ignorant, but 
that it was occasioned by influences of another 




> 



C-v~v.«_ 




t>- 



JOIIX STEWART OF VIRGINIA. 67 

kind, over which the Church had no control, and 
which she had no power to resist. In England, as 
I have said, the poor in the rural districts are de- 
voted to the Church. I have seen them sitting in 
crowds, even upon the steps of the pulpit in rural 
churches. The fact is, that, the more ignorant 
a people are, the more they need the appliances 
for instruction which the Church affords. The lit- 
urgy, with its fulness and simplicity, and its rich 
provision of scriptural knowledge, is, if a luxury 
to the learned, a deep necessity to the unlearned. 
But all this the ignorant do not know ; and they 
are so filled with prejudices by some of their 
teachers, who feed their pride and social jealousy, 
that they are almost inaccessible to the clergy of 
the Church. I have myself had some experience 
in this matter. My last work in Virginia was 
among the poor in the vicinity of Richmond. I 
was induced to take hold of the work by an inti- 
mate friend, — 

JOHN STEWART OF VIRGINIA. 
He was a big-hearted and big-brained man, 
a native of Rothesay, Scotland, — a man of 
wealth, acquired by his own intelligence and 
sagacity. We had been long intimate. In 1858' 
I received a letter from him in reference to the 

1 See Appendix for Letters. 



68 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

poor in his neighborhood. He said that God had 
given him wealth, and he felt his responsibility 
for the right use of it ; that it pained him to see 
his neighbors living in practical atheism ; that, as 
for himself, he could go to Richmond to church, 
but these neighbors could not, or would not. He 
then proposed to me to undertake the work of a 
missionary among them, — offered to support me 
whilst thus engaged, also to build a church and 
all things properly appertaining thereto, etc. I 
did not at first take to the plan proposed. My 
ministerial life had been up to this time pretty 
much that of a missionary. I felt like settling 
down to the duties of an organized parish. I 
found no one scarcely who did not regard the 
scheme as chimerical. The outlook was not a 
cheerful one at all. But, to make a long story 
short, after thinking over the matter for some 
time (Mr. Stewart had asked me to ponder it, 
and, to use his own characteristic words, to 
"spread it, as King Hezekiah did, before the 
Lord "), I concluded at last to accept the offer, 
— he to pay and pray; I to teach and preach, 
not without prayer, I trust. Nobly did he re- 
deem his every promise. I preached, and went 
from house to house. He prayed as I preached. 
I shall ever believe that his prayers were the 
prevailing power. As it was with the centu- 



JOII.V STEWART OF VIRGINIA. 69 

rion of old, " his prayers and his alms went up 
for a memorial, and were had in remembrance 
before the Lord." I can see him now, with up- 
lifted eye, moist with tears, praying as I preached. 
Rich blessings came down from above on our 
work. We began services in a schoolroom, the 
use of which we shared with the ministers of 
various communions. By little and little we 
gained the hearts of the people. They were 
gathered, high and low, to the altars of the Church. 
Very soon a church was built, nominally and to 
an inappreciable extent, by the people of the con- 
gregation, but really by Mr. Stewart and- his 
brother Daniel, a worthy brother of his brother 
John. Then a parsonage was built, etc. At the 
conclusion of three years, or within a few weeks 
of that time, we had a full and earnest congrega- 
tion. At that time (and I had consented to give 
at least three years to the work) I was elected 
Bishop of the Diocese of Alabama. I have jotted 
down these reminiscences for several reasons, — 
first, because it was an interesting and suggestive 
period of my life ; second, because it records the 
piety and zealous conduct of a layman, showing 
what an earnest man can do, if he has the heart 
to work ; thirdly, to show how the poor can be 
reached, and brought into the Church ; and, lastly 
and chiefly, to pay my tribute to the truth and 



JO REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

faithfulness of the Divine promise to answer 
prayer, and to bestow blessings whenever and 
wherever "prayers and alms" come up before 
God for a memorial. This, in my judgment, is 
the true way to reach the masses, ever to "con- 
sider tJiepoor." That means much more than to 
give a needy man an occasional alms. We must 
" condescend to men of low estate," and none of us 
are so high as to have to stoop very much to find 
ourselves on a level with the very poorest. I ad- 
mitted a very poor man to the Church by baptism 
whilst I was minister of " Emmanuel Church," 
— the church which had been built by the Messrs. 
Stewart. When the poor fellow sought me out, 
I asked him what his motive was, and how he 
came to seek admission. He replied that he was 
very ignorant, and could not read, and did not 
know much about " church matters," as he called 
them; "but," said he, "I have noticed a great 
deal, and have always seen the ladies of your 
church caring for the poor, visiting the sick and 
afflicted, and teaching the children," etc. ; " and I 
concluded that where such good fruit grew, the 
tree must be a good one." God bless our faithful 
women ! 



Well, I have brought you down to my period of 
middle life in my " Reminiscences," to the time 



JOILY STEWART OF VIRGINIA. J\ 

when I was elected Bishop of Alabama. Before 
passing on, I will only remark that I have every 
reason to believe that my having taken what was 
thought to be a lowly position, turned out in the 
end to my advancement. I doubt very much 
whether I would ever have been thought of for 
the bishopric of Alabama, if I had not taken 
that position. The success of the undertaking, 
in answer to the prayers of my friend Stewart, 
was so marked as to draw attention to myself as 
the visible working-power. So it often is. A 
man rises by stooping. He seems to rise with a 
spring. Only do your duty, my children, as the 
leadings of Providence may indicate, and He will 
direct your paths. I learned that lesson first 
from my mother, and my whole life abounds with 
illustrations of its truth. 

I must add something more to what I have 
written of my friend, John Stewart. I called him 
a "big-brained" and "big-hearted man." What 
I have written of him will show what a big heart 
he had ; and if all the people whom he has helped 
with his charities were to subscribe to the publi- 
cation of this memoir, it would cost the author 
nothing to publish it. His munificent gifts ex- 
tended not only to kindred, friends, and neighbors 
in this country, but went back in a continuous ref- 
luent wave to his native land, Rothesay, Scotland. 



72 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

I heard in the most incidental way — for he had 
the characteristic reticence of his countrymen in 
a marked degree — that he sent regular remit- 
tances to his superannuated pastor in Scotland, 
for the reason that the old man had taught him 
his catechism in childhood. More than this, he 
and his brothers, Daniel and Bryce Stewart, built 
at Rothesay, Scotland, " The Norman Stewart 
Institute for the Moral and Intellectual Advance- 
ment of Workingmen," and endowed it for all time. 
This Institute was named after the uncle of the 
brothers Stewart, who had left them property, a 
part of which was thus consecrated to a work of 
charity, thus bringing to completion a design for 
which their uncle Norman had made a partial 
provision in his will. In this way the works of 
large-hearted men do follow them through all time, 
and thus may men become "like their Father 
in heaven," and cause " their very paths to drop 
fatness." His large heart and mind find beautiful 
expression in his last will and testament. I had 
always expected that he would leave some consid- 
erable amount, either to found or sustain some 
benevolent or religious institution. When I as- 
certained that he had not done so, I felt some 
surprise and disappointment. But he had larger 
views than I had ever attained unto, and gave me 
an idea altogether new. One of the chief pleas- 



JOHN STEWART OF VIRGINIA. 73 

ures of his life had been to bless others with his 
wealth. He wished his wife and children to en- 
joy the same pleasure with himself, and he knew 
them well enough to know that what had been 
his pleasure would be theirs also. In this spirit 
he framed his will, an extract from which brings 
out his whole thought, as exquisitely beautiful as 
it is original. I bring it out here to illustrate the 
man and to perpetuate the sentiment. 

Extract from John Stewart's will : — 

" I have made no bequests to charitable or re- 
ligious institutions, partly because what I might 
thus give would belong to my wife and children, 
but chiefly because I wish to impress on their 
minds the duty, the privilege, and the sweetness, 
of their giving from right motives, — that is, for 
Christ's sake, while they are yet alive." 

Most nobly have they justified his faith in them. 

I have seen a great many people who were 
"willing to communicate:" he exemplified the 
rare instance of one who was "glad to distribute." 
More than once, when we were building together 
a house for the Lord, and I would come to him 
for help in succoring the distressed, — he had 
asked me to be his almoner, — has he handed me 
the amount needed with his eyes moistened with 
tears, and the words, " I thank you for giving me 
this opportunity." What luxuries the rich deprive 



74 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

themselves of by not blessing others, and how 
poor they are amid all their extravagance ! The 
inmate of an almshouse need not envy the mil- 
lionnaire who is "rich toward himself, and poor 
toward God." 

St. Xavier has left on record a marvellous state- 
ment, — "I have had" — I think he stated more 
than a million — " many people resort to me for 
confession. The confession of every sin that I 
have ever known or heard of, and of sins so foul 
that I never dreamed of, has been poured into my 
ear, but no one person has ever confessed to me 
the sin of covetousness ! " 

Yet this sin is the " root of all evil " in the 
sight of Heaven. I can give almost the same 
experience with St. Xavier. One man only has 
ever expressed to me the fear lest he should be- 
come covetous ; and it is a suggestive fact, that he 
was the most generous man that I have ever 
known, — John Stewart. We used to talk this 
matter over frequently. He would say, " I have 
noticed that covetousness is the prevailing disease 
of old people ; I fear it for myself as I get older ; 
and I know of but one remedy, — giving ! giving ! 
giving ! " He had hit both the diagnosis and the 
treatment of the disease. The spring will become 
stagnant unless its waters flow freely : the em- 
bankments of the dam will give way unless there 



JOHN STEWART OF VIRGINIA. ?$ 

is a "waste" to carry off the excess of water. 
Is it not a suggestive fact, that the most liberal 
are the most fearful of selfishness ? It is natural 
that it should be so. The most learned feel most 
their ignorance ; the most humble their pride ; 
the most pure their uncleanness ; and for the 
same reason, the most generous their selfishness. 
He who habitually walks in the " light of God's 
countenance " sees all the little motes and atoms 
of remaining imperfection, from which he would 
fain cleanse himself. The concentrated light of 
the sun through the solar microscope discloses to 
view, in the seemingly pure drop of water, most 
horrid forms of living beings. It is not cant, then, 
but a clear vision and an humbled spirit, that 
brings out from the holiest saints confessions of 
sin, and cries for cleansing. 

I have written of the heart of my friend : a 
word now about his mind, which was as broad and 
all-embracing as his heart. I cared not to read 
books much, when we were in daily intercourse. 
His book was the Word of God ; and for his 
knowledge of that Word, I pay high honor to 
his Scotch Presbyterian training. The Bible was 
his daily companion and his daily food. No sub- 
ject could be brought up that he did not illumi- 
nate and illustrate by Scripture quotations and 
allusions. He was not a great talker, but always 



y6 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

spoke to the purpose when he did talk. In com- 
pany, after a subject had been pretty much talked 
out, he would, usually, in some one or two preg- 
nant sentences, settle the matter by a generaliza- 
tion which brought out the principles of the whole 
subject under discussion. This power of generali- 
zation is the attribute of a great intellect. To 
such a mind, there is no isolated fact : it takes its 
place in the great system of phenomena as the 
example and illustration of a general principle 
or law. John Stewart talked very much as Lord 
Bacon wrote. 

We were together every day, and many hours 
in the day, whilst the war of the States was 
brewing. Living within a few miles of Richmond, 
and going to the city daily in his company, I had 
the benefit of his large and comprehensive views, 
especially upon the financial aspect of the whole 
question. What all men now see, he saw then, 
and with perfect distinctness. His prophecy has 
become literal history. What perplexed others, 
was as plain as the day to his mind. 

Withal, there was in the play of his mind, as is 
common with such minds, a delicate humor and 
wit, which, when argument had not convinced, 
would end the whole discussion. I wish now that 
I had treasured up some of his sayings which 
were at that time so current among his intimates, 



JOHN STEWART OF VIRGINIA. J J 

but they have faded from my memory. There 
was not only point in them, but, usually, a deep 
moral. One only comes into my mind at this 
time, and it is but one of thousands of like char- 
acter. "Stewart," said a Richmond friend, " I 
am coming out to dine with you some Sunday: 
it's the only day that I have to myself." — " That's 
unfortunate," was the reply, "for that is the only 
day that is not mine own. I have had given me 
six days in the week all to myself, to ' do what 
I have to do : ' the clay you mention is the Lord's 
day. My great desire is to dedicate its hours to 
Him whose day it is." 

This brings me to speak of his piety. That 
was his crowning and all-covering grace. He 
never mentioned the name of Deity save with 
hushed utterance. A holy awe seemed to come 
over his face, and tremble in his voice, when the 
Divine Majesty was named by him. I seemed to 
feel the Divine Presence when he mentioned that 
Holy Name. Then, too, his faith was so childlike. 
All great men have such faith. I remember when 
Judge John Cochran of Eufaula, Ala., came to 
talk with me about his own confirmation, I could 
not but contrast his speech with that of some 
very smart men who have talked with me on 
the same subject. I asked him about his "faith," 
which he would have to profess in confirmation. 



fS REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

I can never forget his childlike look when he an- 
swered, " I have implicit faith in God's holy 
Word as summed up in the Catholic Creed : I 
never try my reason in matters beyond its grasp. 
My Father has spoken to me through His Son : 
I believe." Cochran had the largest mind that I 
have yet met with in Alabama. The first time 
I ever saw him was made notable by an incident 
quite characteristic of the man. We met on the 
road — I going to his house, and he going to see 
me. As we met, a friend, who was driving my 
carriage, called out, "Judge, this is the bishop." 
The judge was absorbed in a large book, and in- 
continently sprang from his seat into the road, 
tumbling the book into the sand, and warmly 
welcoming me to the neighborhood. The book 
was Shakspeare. That and the Bible were his 
constant study. There was no danger of being 
sceptical with such daily companionship. Great 
minds are never sceptical. Dear Judge, you, too, 
have passed away, and one light more has gone 
out from my life. 

But I have strayed from my subject. I could 
not let that dear friend Cochran be left out of my 
" Reminiscences." 

I was speaking of my friend Stewart's piety and 
reverence. I cannot take the veil from his family 
circle, and show him there as he was, husband, 



JOHN STEWART OF VIRGINIA. 79 

father, brother, and friend. He is still there, 
sanctified with all holy memories ; and the mem- 
ory of his words and life still keep burning the 
sacred fire. 

I said he was brought up in Scotland. He 
was, therefore, as was to be expected, baptized in 
the Church of Scotland. For that Church he 
never lost his love and reverence. I should have 
esteemed him less if he had. But his deepest 
religious impressions were received during that 
wonderful revival — that zvas indeed a revival — 
that went like the breath of heaven over Virginia 
nearly fifty years ago, when he received confirma- 
tion. There was a wonderful attraction for his 
mind and heart in the grand liturgy of the 
Church, that same liturgy for which some of the 
best minds of the Presbyterian Church in Scot- 
land and America do now yearn ; and no son of 
the Church ever appreciated her holy services 
more than he did. He often said to me that " the 
ways of the Episcopal Church in this country were 
more like those of the ' Free Church ' of Scotland 
than any other, and he felt more at home in her 
services." 

I used to banter him about his "Churchman- 
ship," etc., although he was worth a score of our 
ordinary Churchmen, and tell him that I did not 
expect to make much of a Churchman out of such 



80 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

Scotch material as he was made of, but that I was 
thankful to have him just as he was. I remember 
now sending him a published sermon of mine on 
"The Church of the Living God, the Pillar and 
Ground of the Truth," saying to him that I did 
not expect him to fall in with some of the views 
expressed. His reply was quite characteristic, 
and has ever since been suggestive. Many of our 
Churchmen might ponder it to advantage. " You 
cannot put the Church too high for me, if you 
always keep the Head above the body." That is a 
fair sample of his manner of speech' and writing. 

Many friends who have sojourned at " Brook 
Hill," Mr. Stewart's residence near Richmond, 
and have been privileged to worship at the family 
altar, a sacred shrine in that household, have told 
me of the singular impressiveness of the whole 
scene at family prayer. I have always regretted 
that I could not have enjoyed that privilege, my 
ministerial office calling upon me to officiate my- 
self when present. They have told me that an 
inexpressible solemnity attended those services. 
The deep utterance of the father's voice, and pro- 
found awe, the simple and grand language of ad- 
dress before the throne, all made them feel that 
God was in the midst of them. 

I named a son after him, John Stewart Wilmer, 
a dear, blue-eyed little feilow, who was soon taken 



JOHX STEWART OF VIRGINIA. 8 1 

home. What remains of him on earth lies hard 
by the walls of dear "Emmanuel," the church 
which his godfather Stewart and I had together 
builded. Near by — and I love to think that to- 
gether they will rise at the last day — lies what 
was mortal of his namesake. "Emmanuel" (God 
with us) Church seems to guard the precious spot. 

I have named for him now a grandson, John 
Stewart Jones, another blue-eyed boy. I ask no 
more for him from Heaven than that he may have 
a portion of the mind and heart that dwelt in his 
namesake, John Stewart. 

In the sketch here given of my dear friend 
Stewart, I may, perhaps, have left an impression 
that he was a stern man. He was a stern man, 
— stern as granite in his convictions of truth and 
duty. Neither fear, favor, nor affection could 
move him a hair-breadth in such matters ; for he 
lived habitually in the light of the Divine Pres- 
ence, and the judgment of man had no weight 
when his conscience had decided. His character 
in this respect is strikingly brought out in the 
inscription upon his tombstone, " Blessed is the 
man whose strength is in Thee, in whose heart 
are Thy ways." 

To the casual acquaintance he ordinarily ap- 
peared to be a very grave man ; and friends whom 
I have introduced to him have often asked me, 



82 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

"Is not your friend Mr. Stewart a very austere 
man ? " a question which always amused me, who 
knew him in his family privacy and inner life. Ah, 
how genial and bright he was here in his home- 
circle and among his intimates, where the warm 
beams of his loving nature, and the bright spar- 
klings of his refined humor and wit, made a very 
sunshine in his dwelling ! 

His heart was as full of thanksgiving as of sup- 
plication. More than almost any one I ever knew, 
he illustrated in his every-day life the injunction 
of the holy apostle to " be careful for nothing, but 
in every thing, by prayer and supplication with 
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known 
unto God," etc. Hence came the habitual peace 
which pervaded his heart, and irradiated his 
dwelling. 

As a father, he was so loving, so tender, so 
considerate, so mindful of human infirmity, that 
his dear children will ever be able to reproduce 
from the remembrance of the earthly father re- 
freshing and comforting views of the Divine 
Father. Thus did he let his light so shine in his 
household that all around him — children, ser- 
vants, and friends — saw his good works, and 
glorified their Father which is in heaven. 

He has passed out of mortal sight ; but long 
will the radiance of his bright and holy life shine 



RELIGIOUS BODIES IN UNITED STATES. 83 

upon his dwelling-place, even as the light of part- 
ing day lingers upon the horizon long after the 
sun has gone down. 

He made unto himself " friends of the mam- 
mon of unrighteousness." He builded God a 
house. Shall he not enter into everlasting habita- 
tions ? May my end be like his, and my habita- 
tion with him forevermore ! 

DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS BODIES IN THE 
UNITED STATES. 

Now I desire to say something about the differ- 
ent religious bodies with which you will come in 
contact, and to point out their characteristics 
and claims, and to show you your relation to 
them. It is most important that you understand 
these things, — first, that you may give an intelli- 
gent reason for your own position in Christendom, 
and also be prepared to instruct others in matters 
of so great concernment. That there should be 
divisions among Christian people, is much to be 
deplored for every reason. Division runs counter 
to- the mind of our Lord, whose prayer ever was, 
" Father, that they may be one as We are one." 
Again, it breeds unholy contention and emulation ; 
divides forces, and wastes energies ; practically, it 
divides to a certain extent (and it is to that extent 
injurious) the Kingdom of God against itself. The 



84 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

divided state of Christendom is gloried over in a 
certain kind of flash oratory, which describes the 
varied hues of a divided Christianity as a beauti- 
ful kaleidoscopic picture, where are displayed 
all the prismatic hues of light — forgetting that 
where the colors of the prism are exhibited, it 
is in consequence of refraction, and does not 
present the pure light as it comes from heaven. 
Or, as some others delight to view it, they 
describe the various denominations as regiments 
or divisions of the grand army, fighting under one 
Captain, — the great Captain of salvation. All 
this sounds very pretty, and is sufficiently capti- 
vating to a certain sort of mind ; but the lament- 
able fact is, that these several regiments or 
divisions — call them what you will — are spend- 
ing a large part of their strength and time in 
fighting and firing into each other. They have 
to keep three or four ministers in a little village 
(where the services of one good man would be 
sufficient), to watch each other, and keep the bal- 
ance of power even. At this moment two-thirds 
of the ministers in the villages might be sent to 
the heathen, to the great advantage of Christen- 
dom. Time would fail me to enter into all the 
evils of schism. Yet we find good and true men 
among all the great denominations. We must not 
ignore that fact, nor that other great fact, — that 



RELIGIOUS BODIES IN UNITED STATES. 85 

this goodness which we sec is the fruit of the 
Divine Spirit, and the outcome of union with 
Christ. They could not else manifest, as they do 
often, the fruits of the Spirit. These are the 
actual phenomena with which we have to deal, — 
to deal fairly and honestly. Hence we are called 
upon to distinguish between men and their sys- 
tems and organizations. The latter may be a 
mistake, a wrong, an injury ; and yet, through 
the frailty of sinful men, good men may be ear- 
nestly, however mistakenly, working under them. 
With some men it is a lust of power, an ambitious 
spirit, a desire to exalt self. Divisions ordinarily 
spring from unruled lusts of ambitious men, good 
men, too, it may be, but not good enough to kill 
their ambition. With some other men, their 
denominational connections are the result of igno- 
rance and shallowness : they really think they are 
promoting the purity of the Church by a whole- 
some rivalry. With the great mass of men, it is 
a matter of accident or of pure indifference. They 
don't care or think much about the matter. Now, 
I hold — and have ever taught, both publicly and 
privately — that the divided state of Christendom 
is an evil of incalculable magnitude, and that it 
becomes every Christian man to do what in him 
lies to heal the breach. He cannot do it, in my 
judgment, by treating the evil lightly, nor by 



86 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

contention and strife. The evil comes from the 
Evil One : the counteracting good must come 
from the Author and Giver of all goodness. All 
work for whatever good end, if not done in the 
spirit of Christ, intensifies the evil sought to be 
remedied. It adds fuel to the fire : it feeds, in- 
stead of quenching, the flame. I hold — and have 
ever taught and preached it — that each Chris- 
tian man should, so far as his intelligence goes, 
seek to know what is the truth in all this matter 
of a divided Christendom. The very spirit and 
desire to find out the truth is a good beginning, 
and will not end there in any earnest mind. The 
difficulty would not long exist were men earnestly 
to go to work to find out the truth, with the love 
of the truth to inspire their search. One has no 
business to talk about any truth in any other 
spirit, no more than he would have a right to 
talk about the properties of angles, etc., unless 
he had learned something of geometry. The good 
in an evil thing is often only apparent on the 
surface : the evil often poisons and corrupts the 
whole system. 

But I am dwelling too long upon these generali- 
ties. I must come to a nearer and more tangible 
view of the subject, only observing, at the outset, 
that every man, and every body of men, should 
give an account of themselves, when they came 



ROMAN, OR LATIN, CHURCH. %J 

into being, and what good purpose they are sub- 
serving by continuance in being ; in a word, the 
"raison d'etre." I take up, first, the 

ROMAN, OR LATIN, CHURCH. 

I take this Church first, because she is the 
largest Christian organization in the world ; and, 
furthermore, she claims to be the only legitimate, 
divinely appointed communion of Christians on 
earth. You will meet the claims of Rome every- 
where, in books, newspapers, schools, colleges, etc. 
A wonderful piece of mechanism it is, a vast, com- 
plex, flexible and inflexible power, suited to all 
temperaments, adjusting itself to all idiosyncrasies, 
and, as it regards the great "Society of Jesus" 
especially, politic, daring, or submissive, as the 
case may call for, to the last degree — alas ! in 
what painful contrast with the simplicity of " the 
truth as it is in Jesus." Rome is to-day pretty 
much what Jesuitism is ; because Jesuitism, after 
having fought the world, and even the Bishops of 
Rome sometimes, and after having been expelled in 
turn from nearly all the countries of Europe, has 
achieved its present commanding position, gives 
counsel to popes, causes doctrines to be promul- 
gated, — new doctrines upon the same platform 
with the ancient Creeds. Rome clai)>is to be exclu- 
sively "the Catholic Church." The Church in 



88 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

England, as I have before written, was at one 
time under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome; 
so were all the churches of Western Europe. The 
Church in England is not now ; but Rome, none the 
less, asserts her claim, and promulgates decrees and 
dogmas as by divine warranty. Within my mem- 
ory, she has taken a private opinion of individuals, 
and elevated it to the dignity of a fundamental 
dogma, — " the immaculate conception of the Blessed 
Virgin." Later still, and in my day, she has pro- 
mulgated the dogma of the "infallibility of the 
Pope" — has done it formally; and her adherents, 
some of them reluctant, and some recalcitrant for 
a while, have either formally given in, or preserve a 
still silence. Strange — and yet not strange — it is, 
that the promulgation of infallibility synchronized 
exactly with the passing away of all her temporal 
dominion. This fact is exquisitely brought out by 
Mozley in his " University Sermons." I cannot for- 
bear a single extract. He is speaking of the proc- 
lamation of infallibility by the Pope at the moment 
of his stepping down from the throne of temporal 
dominion. " Is this not," says Mozley, "the act of 
a dispossessed monarch, who, upon the eve of the 
crisis, collects all his greatness about him, and pre- 
pares to quit his throne with a rigorous statement of 
his rights first put forth ? . . . The claim represents 
former possession. Rome issues out of her own 



ROMAN, OR LATIN, CHURCH. 89 

gates, taking her history with her ; she collects 
her prestige, she gathers up the past, she calls in 
all the antecedents of her temporal greatness ; she 
stereotypes memory in decrees ; she condenses 
history into dogmas ; she surrounds herself sym- 
bolically with all the insignia of her secular glory. 
... A thousand banners and escutcheons are hid 
in one of those sentences which makes the state- 
ment of her dominion, in order to serve as a sup- 
port to her in the loss of the fact. . . . All in 
vain ! The earth must roll back on its axis before 
the moral sense of society recants on these ques- 
tions. . . . Never again, never, though ages pass 
away, never any more under the heavens, shall 
be seen forms and fabrics and structures and com- 
binations that we have seen. They have taken 
their place among departed shapes and organisms, 
deposited in that vast mausoleum which receives, 
sooner or later, all human creations. The mould 
in which they were made is broken, and their suc- 
cessors will be casts from a new mould. The 
world is evidently at the end of one era, and is 
entering upon another ; but there will remain the 
Christian creed and the Christian Church, to en- 
lighten ignorance, to fight with sin, and to con- 
duct man to eternity" (pp. 22-24 of Mozley's 
" University Sermons " ). 

Upon what grounds, you may well ask, does 



90 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

Rome build her vast pretensions ? Chiefly upon a 
declaration of our Lord to St. Peter : " Upon this 
rock I will build My church," etc. If the words 
mean what the Romanists affirm they do mean, 
there is no declaration that they confer any special 
authority or privilege upon the Bishops of Rome. 
For, in the first place, it is a mooted point whether 
St. Peter was ever Bishop of Rome. St. Paul 
certainly was there, and also wrote the " Epistle 
to the Romans." But, besides, you must interpret 
the meaning of our Lord's declaration in the light 
of subsequent history. Is there any evidence to 
show that St. Peter claimed the pre-eminence said 
to have been conferred upon him in these quoted 
words, or that it was ever conceded to him by 
the other Apostles ? The contrary is the fact. 
Rome is not the "mother" of churches. Jeru- 
salem, where the Christian dispensation of the 
Church was inaugurated, is the mother church. 
And you will observe 2hat at the meeting of the 
first council of the Church (Acts xv.), St. James, 
the first Bishop of Jerusalem, was the presiding 
Bishop ; St. Peter merely giving his opinion as a 
member of the council. St. Peter gave his opin- 
ion, whereas St. James concluded the deliberations 
of the council by saying, " Wherefore my sentence 
is," thus announcing the judgment of that body. 
How can such a state of things be accounted 



ROM AX, OR LATIN, CHURCH. 9 1 

for from the Romanists' position in regard to 
the so-called successors of St. Peter ? It was 
many years before a Bishop of Rome claimed 
any thing like supremacy ; and her claim was never 
recognized by the Church Universal. The Ori- 
ental churches never fell under the power of the 
Bishop of Rome. They exist to-day, and have ex- 
isted from the beginning, apart from the sway of 
the Bishop of Rome. It is the most shameless 
and groundless assumption, that of the claim 
of the Pope to universal supremacy and — as a 
corollary therefrom — to infallibility. When you 
read, as you will, in history of the counter-decisions 
of bishops of Rome, and of the profligate lives of 
many of them (history records no worse characters 
than some of them), it is almost amusing, were the 
consequences less serious, to hear such announce- 
ments as are made of the power of the Pope. 
Flings at the English Church, because of Henry 
VIIVs character, come with a bad grace from men 
who now, as a matter of salvation, must believe in 
the infallibility of a Borgia ! Then, too, when 
you come to the matter of doctrine, — that of 
transubstantiation, the worship of the Blessed 
Virgin, the Romish purgatory, etc., — you, who 
have been instructed in the word of God, can 
hardly be drawn away from the ancient faith into 
the mazes of Romish error. The best antidote 



92 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

against all uncatholic doctrine is a thorough ac- 
quaintance with the Word of God, as interpreted 
and accepted by the Universal Church. It is a 
two-edged sword, that guards in all directions the 
tree of life. Make it, my children, your book of 
counsel, the guide for time and eternity, health for 
body and soul. Yet, think not that I join in the 
popular and undiscriminating tirade against Rome. 
She has the faith, though sadly disfigured, and en- 
rolls among her children a goodly fellowship of 
saints and a noble army of martyrs, — not, indeed, 
because of her errors, but in spite of them. In 
many things, we might imitate the zeal and spirit of 
self-sacrifice so wonderfully illustrated in her com- 
munion. Roman-Catholicism, in so far as it is true 
to the catholic faith, is one thing, and worthy of all 
admiration. But Romanism, as corrupted by new 
doctrines, and perverted by Jesuitism, which just 
now is in the ascendent, and dictates, as is thought, 
the policy of that Church, is quite another thing. 
Against all these uncatholic features of the Roman 
Church, this Church of ours enters her solemn pro- 
test. Hence, she is called the "Protestant" Church, 
because she is so truly catholic. Her Protestant- 
ism constitutes really the negative side of her 
Catholicity. We do not believe in " The Protest- 
ant Episcopal Church." And why ? Because our 
faith cannot properly rest in any one branch of the 



THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 93 

Church. Any particular church may err in the 
faith. Rome assuredly has ; she has erred by 
unwarranted additions to the faith ; she imposes 
uncatholic conditions of communion and fellowship. 
We cannot fraternize with her, without accepting 
as true what is not true. Besides, she has excom- 
municated us : we have never excommunicated her. 
The schism between us is not of our making. 
We are ready to meet her, and all the historical 
churches (by this I mean all churches tracing an 
Apostolic succession of the ministry), upon the basis 
of catholic truth, — that which always was every- 
where, and held by all, — our faith being in the 
Holy Catholic Church, and only using the appella- 
tion of "Protestant Episcopal" byway of designat- 
ing a branch of the Church, and because it has a 
well-known doctrinal and historical significance ; 
just as we designate continents and oceans and 
bays and rivers, to localize and designate them, but 
not to deny or lose sight of the fact that all these 
several divisions make up the great land and sea. 
" Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" 

THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNION 
Is a select, learned, and most respectable com- 
munion of Christian people. Why is it called Pres- 
byterian ? To indicate the fact that their ministers 
are presbyters merely, and that they recognize no 



94 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

office in the Church like that of our Bishops. 
That Denomination has precedence in Scotland, 
an existence in England and Ireland, in France 
and the United States, besides scattered congrega- 
tions on the Continent, and missions among the 
heathen. Its history dates back no farther than 
the Reformation. There is no satisfactory record 
of a church up to that era which was not ruled by 
Bishops. They claim that their ministerial gov- 
ernment was instituted by the Apostles, but admit 
that it soon merged into the Episcopal form. It 
will strike any one as very strange that the Apos- 
tolic form of government (supposing, for the sake 
of argument, that such was Presbyterian) should 
have lasted so short a time. There must have 
been a strong tendency to Episcopacy in early 
Presbyterianism. During the apostolic era, the 
Church was without controversy, governed by the 
Apostles. The first clear intimations of subsequent 
history give us Episcopal churches everywhere. 
If any change ever took place from Presbyterian to 
Episcopal polity, as they allege, history does not 
record the fact nor the time. The truth is, that all 
this talk is purely conjectural, imaginary, and hardly 
reasonable. If there is any truth in it, the burden 
of proof (positive) rests upon themselves. The 
whole stream of history is against the assertion. 
The analogy of nature, in its manifold headship, 



THE riiESBYTERIAN COMMUNION. 95 

is against it. It is an afterthought altogether. 
Some of the most learned of their reformers — 
notably, Calvin — acknowledged the fact of primi- 
tive Episcopacy, and he would have ingrafted the 
feature upon his system had it been practicable. 
The history of Puritanism in England is a most 
suggestive one. It originated in a certain school 
of divines in the Church in England who were 
enamoured of a more simple ritual than that of 
the Church, and held stronger views of the doc- 
trines of predestination and election, etc., than 
"The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion" justified. 
The body of divines holding said views, at last, 
after many attempts had been made to pacify 
and harmonize them, went to themselves, estab- 
lished their standard, — "The Confession of Faith" 
— and thus took a determinate departure from 
the historical Church in England and other 
countries. They seemed to run counter to every 
distinctive feature of the Church: — we kneeled, 
they stood, in prayer ; we kneeled at the Holy 
Eucharist, they sat and partook ; they objected 
to the use of the surplice, to the sign of the 
cross in baptism, to the wedding-ring, etc. So 
trivial were the grounds of their dissent, as you 
will see in any history of the times. But times 
are changed ; and they have changed, as we 
all have changed, with the times. No more do 



96 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

we hear of the peculiar doctrines of Presbyterian- 
ism. The great Fatherhood of God, loving all 
His children, and shining like the sun on all His 
creatures, has relegated to the tombs all those 
narrow, harsh, repelling, and appalling views of 
the Deity which came once from Presbyterian 
pulpits. They still sing, "Hark from the tombs," 
but the voice of the Easter-tide will drown that 
doleful cry after a while. Some of their best 
men are beginning to cry aloud for a liturgical 
worship. After a while they will demand it. 
Their sabbaths (Judaical as theirs have been) will 
give way to the "Lord's Day;" and they will 
sing Te Deums and Glorias, as other Christian 
people have done and will continue to do. Why 
they keep up their distinctive organization, it 
would be hard to say. What great truth they 
maintain distinctively, cannot be pointed out. 
What special attraction there is in their mode of 
worship, does not appear. They hold a great 
deal that is good, but they do not specially hold 
any thing good that the historical Episcopal 
Church does not also hold. You may say indeed, 
with truth, that distinctive Presbyterianism no 
longer exists, save in its ministerial polity ; and 
that cannot stand the test of history. Chilling- 
worth (in his " Apostolical Institution of Episco- 
pacy Demonstrated " ) puts the allegation, on the 



THE TRESBYTERIAN COMMUX/OAT. 97 

part of the Presbyterians, that " Prcsbytcrianism 
was ancient and Apostolic, but had run into Episco- 
pacy " in a helpless condition. He says (p. 509), 
" When I shall see, therefore, all the fables in the 
'Metamorphoses' acted, and prove true stories; 
when I shall see all the Democracies and Aristoc- 
racies in the world lie down and sleep, and awake 
into Monarchies, — then will I begin to believe that 
Presbyterial government, having continued in the 
Church during the apostles' times, should presently 
after (against the apostles' doctrine and the will 
of Christ) be whirled about like a scene in a mask, 
and transformed into Episcopacy. In the mean 
time, while things remain thus incredible, and in 
human reason impossible, I hope I shall have 
leave to conclude thus : ' Episcopal government is 
acknowledged to have been universally received 
in the Church presently after the Apostles' times.' 
'Between the Apostles' and this "presently after," 
there was not time enough for, nor possibility of, 
so great an alteration.' 

"And, therefore, there was no such alteration 
as is pretended. And therefore Episcopacy, be- 
ing confessed to be so ancient and catholic, must 
be granted also to be Apostolic. Quod crat de- 
monstrandum." 

The fact is, that Romanism and Presbyterian- 
ism, in some of their distinctive characteristics, 



98 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

are both uncatholic. They have more things 
in common than would be supposed at a first 
glance. They both ignore and undervalue patris- 
tic learning and authority. Presbyterian min- 
isters, although well educated in the general, 
are proverbially deficient in patristic lore. They 
find no comfort in reading the " Fathers," for they 
ever find Episcopacy, and Episcopacy is most un- 
savory to them. The Romanists, likewise, run 
away from the Fathers nowadays. They are 
always seeking for proofs of the Pope's suprem- 
acy, and the Fathers did not know any thing about 
so novel a doctrine. The English Church with 
her weighty artillery has driven the Romish con- 
troversialists out of their old intrenchments, and 
they are now seeking a new position of defence 
in the doctrine of "development," which, as practi- 
cally interpreted by them, means, not development 
of truth revealed, but revelation of new truth. 
Newman and Manning have both helped them on 
this new line. The only safety is in Catholic 
truth, and in the Apostolical order of the Church, 
which comes to us with the same universality of 
evidence that the Holy Scriptures themselves do, 
— catholic consent. And he who disparages the 
idea of catholic consent, disparages the very founda- 
tion upon which the Canon of Holy Scripture rests 
for its authenticity. 




BAPTIST FRIENDS. 99 

But the vital matter for men to know amid 
all these controversies is this, — that spiritual 
life comes from the indwelling of the Divine 
Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life. He dwells 
in men, despite many opposing infirmities, errors, 
and sins, else would He not dwell in any one 
of us. How far a man may go in error or sin 
without quenching the life of the soul, is not re- 
vealed. We may not expect in this our earthly 
pilgrimage to live without these clogging errors 
and faults, but let it be our aim really to live. It 
matters little what a dead man believes, — there is 
not much difference in dead things : they are all 
putting on corruption. But there is, on the con- 
trary, a vast difference in living things. The 
nearer one lives in the truth and to the truth, the 
more of a man is he, and the higher his possible 
usefulness and destiny. Therefore, my children, 
strive to walk in the truth, and with boundless 
compassion for the ignorant and erring — not dif- 
ficult for any one to do who fully realizes his own 
frailty and fallibility. 

But we must say a few words about our 

BAPTIST FRIENDS. 
They are a very large denomination in this 
country, but do not exercise the same power with 
the Methodists, because they lack compactness 



100 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

and unity in their organization. They sprang up 
about the time of the Lutheran Reformation ; and 
in some places they were turbulent and very heady, 
as Luther testified. In their Polity, they are In- 
dependents and Congregationalists ; each con- 
gregation containing within itself governmental 
powers — each congregation an autonomy. They 
form among themselves what they style "Associ- 
ations ;" but these are purely voluntary, and are 
clothed with very limited powers. 

Their boast is, that they possess "no written 
creed : " they do not baptize children, and they re- 
gard immersion as the only valid baptism, — in- 
deed, as alone baptism. They ignore the question 
of the ministry pretty much, and attach a supreme 
importance to two things, — no children baptized, 
and adult believers alone to be baptized, and by 
immersion. They have among them some quite 
distinguished and learned men ; but as a denomi- 
nation, viewed in the large, their preachers and 
people are much less informed than the majority 
of the other sects. Of late they are earnest pro- 
moters of education. They are exclusive, — would 
be called very High Church among us, — but by 
their fraternizations with other Christian people 
in preachings, etc., they get credit among the un- 
thinking for a liberality which is not deserved ; 
for they will not commune with their fellow- 



BAPTIST FRIENDS. \Q\ 

Christians, and they will repel them from their 
communion-tables. The Holy Scriptures they 
profess to take as their sole guide, and ignore all 
idea of the Catholic Church as an interpreter of 
divine truth. Hence, they have no written creed, 
and glory in the fact, although they hold certain 
opinions as unquestionably true ; and it is hard 
for any one to see what is the difference between 
a spoken and a written creed. The creed of every 
man is what he believes to be true ; and whether 
he writes it down, or lets it float in speech, it is 
none the less a creed, although, being unwritten 
and unrehearsed, it is liable to easy change. What 
idea can you form of one's faith, when he says, 
" I believe in the Holy Scriptures " ? The argu- 
ments of the Baptists are plausible to a certain 
extent among the ignorant; and they beguile — 
not to deny much knowledge among their learned 
men — a great multitude of ignorant and really 
good people. 

I cannot pretend to go at length into the matters 
of difference between us and them. There are a 
great many good and satisfactory books, which, if 
you should ever happen to need, you can consult. 
Among them I name one, written by Dr. Hodges, 
an old friend of mine, entitled, " Baptism, tested by 
Scripture and History," an argument, in my judg- 
ment, unanswerable. I merely touch a few points. 



102 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 



INFANT BAPTISM. 

They reject infant baptism, alleging two princi- 
pal objections : (a) the Scriptures do not in so 
many words command children to be baptized, 
and (b) that children are incapable of receiving 
any benefit therefrom. Whereas, on the contrary 
(as you will see more at length in the book re- 
ferred to), children are always treated of in Scrip- 
ture as belonging to the Church. They were 
circumcised into it under the Jewish dispensation ; 
and when families and households were brought 
into the Christian fold, they were baptized as 
" households." Furthermore, our Lord gave it as 
a reason why His disciples should not bar the 
approach of children to Himself, that "of such is 
the Kingdom of God," which is the Church of 
God ; and we know no way of becoming members 
of the Kingdom of God, save by baptism. Be- 
sides, the comparative silence of Scripture (if 
Scripture can be truly said to be silent) in regard 
to this matter is very significant. We do not 
commonly say much about settled and indispu- 
table facts. The relation of the children to the 
Church was so universally recognized as a fact, a 
fact not disputed, that there was little occasion 
to refer to it in the Gospels and Acts of the 
Apostles. Yet there is just the mention of it, 



INFANT BAPTISM. 103 

and the implication of its existence that we should 
expect to find, — the Shepherd's tender care of 
the little ones of His fold, His taking them in 
His arms, His declaring them "blessed," His 
provision for their nurture in His parting in- 
junctions to His disciple, "Feed My lambs." 
In addition to this weighty testimony of Holy 
Scripture, we have the universal custom of the 
Church, not seriously disputed for centuries, — 
a fact of deep significance to every one who 
understands that he receives the Holy Scriptures 
themselves upon the same testimony. 

Think of a flock of sheep without any lambs in 
it. It would be absolutely ludicrous, were it not 
at the same time so painful. The gospel did little 
for the Jews, if it took the men and the women into 
the Church, and left the children out ; and that, 
too, when the Lord of the Kingdom says that "of 
such is the Kingdom." Really, to one acquainted 
with all the grounds of, and reasons for, infant 
baptism, as appearing from the Scripture alone, it 
is difficult to understand how a thinking and 
learned man can be a Baptist. Yet there are such 
men who are conscientious Baptists. Then, when 
you add to this the whole force of catholic con- 
sent through ages, it becomes a wonder greater 
still. 

But, the main difficulty in the mind of a Baptist 



104 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

is in the thought that " children can receive 
no benefit from baptism." This difficulty arises, 
altogether, out of a misconception of the nature 
of baptism. The Baptist regards the sacrament 
as involving too exclusively what man has to do in 
the matter. We, on the contrary, regard it chiefly 
as something that God does for man. It is not 
simply a profession of one's faith, but a reception 
into the Kingdom, into the family of Heaven. Our 
birth of the flesh is our entrance into creation : it 
puts us among God's creatures, in the great king- 
dom of Nature. Whereas, our baptism is our intro- 
duction into God's family, therefore properly and 
significantly styled the " Kingdom of the Father," 
which involves the idea of our regeneration, our 
new birth, our second birth, our adoption and incor- 
poration into the mystical body of the dear Lord. 
Now, we all admit that children can become 
citizens of another kingdom than that in which 
they were born. They can be made partakers of 
all the privileges of citizenship, in so far as minors 
can exercise them, or they can be exercised in 
their behalf. They can receive the benefit of all 
properties given, and they can have the protec- 
tion of the law, and the right of having guard- 
ianship, etc. ; in a word, they can have all the 
substantial benefits of citizenship, whilst yet they 
are all unconscious. What man would reject an 



INFANT BATTISM. 105 

inheritance for his child because the child could 
not understand the value of the gift ? Further- 
more, when they shall have reached years of dis- 
cretion, they can say whether they will confirm 
and ratify the deed of their parents, and confirm 
the citizenship given them by their parents, or 
choose another for themselves, and thus give a 
deep significance to their confirmation. All this 
the Baptist ignores, — honestly, I doubt not, but 
still actually. He took up his Bible, and went to 
work to make out a scheme of church polity for 
himself anew, never sufficiently considering that 
a Church already existed, — a Church that had 
brought to him the very Scriptures which he was 
using as if a new revelation, not only separating 
himself from its government and guidance, but 
from its communion, and the church-members 
from communion with himself. He thus created 
a schism in the body, and established a sect in its 
very idea schismatical. If the Baptist idea of the 
Church be well founded, then for centuries Christ 
had no Church on earth ; and then, of course, the 
Church had failed ; and yet, of that Kingdom, there 
was to be no end. 

Such are the conclusions necessarily and actually 
involved in the position of the Baptist. He does 
not sufficiently consider (and in this he is not 
alone) that the Church antedates the written word 



106 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

of the New Testament ; that those Scriptures 
were written to meet the wants of an existing 
Church. The Epistles were addressed to the 
various churches. The Gospels are histories of 
our Lord's deeds and words, and were written 
after the events which they record ; and therefore 
it is, that we have to go to the Catholic Church to 
find out what is the Word of God. These are very- 
simple facts, but unknown to, and unweighed by, 
great numbers of men, who, in some other respects, 
are quite intelligent, and well informed. 

The ultimate fate of the Baptist, as it regards 
the preservation of " the faith," it would be hard 
to predict. His want of a fixed Creed and Liturgy 
deprives him of a great security against error. 
His congregational character bereaves him of a 
great deal of good and restraint and guidance, that 
come from mutual helpfulness. His extravagant 
reliance upon individual interpretations of Scrip- 
ture opens the way to an unlimited number of 
sects, between whom there exists only the one tie, 
— of immersion in water, and infants rejected. 
The name of the Baptist sects is becoming Legion. 
The " Campbellites" (or "Disciples" they claim to 
be called) is one of their most prominent off-shoots, 
as yet but little known in the world at large, but 
numerous and aggressive wherever they have 
made a lodgement. Individualism bursts into full 



TNFANT BAPTISM. 107 

bloom under their favoring auspices. Every man 
can be a preacher, and every woman if she claims 
the privilege. With no established creed, and 
unlicensed power to interpret Scripture, there 
must be as many actual creeds as there are diver- 
gent opinions, with no protection, that appears, 
from the most fatal heresy. The atmosphere 
around them in some localities will keep them 
orthodox longer than their system would warrant. 
My children, adhere steadfastly to a communion 
which holds a fixed faith, and breathes it in every 
note of prayer and praise. 

Perhaps I ought to say a word about what the 
Baptists claim for " immersion." I feel that I am 
touching what is a matter of small moment in it- 
self ; but yet I must recognize it as having impor- 
tance, because so much is made of it, to the 
prejudice of many tender consciences and weak 
minds. To a Churchman, it can hardly become a 
practical question, for his first concern would be 
to know if the minister proposing to baptize him 
had any commission thereto. The Baptists are 
always arguing the point of "how to baptize;" 
leaving out of view the question, " Who is em- 
powered to baptize ? " Yet the matter of immersion 
troubles some people, and huge volumes of immense 
research have been evoked by the water contro- 
versy. To me it appears like the question, "How 



108 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

much wax is to be put upon your seal in order to 
give validity to its impress ? " It tends, moreover, 
to withdraw the mind from the sacramental idea 
to the material one. It is a small matter, it would 
seem, whether the water goes over the subject, or 
the subject goes under the water. It makes one 
sick to think how men can wrangle over such 
questions. They surely have never divined the 
true idea of a Sacrament, which is "the outward 
and visible sign of an inward and spiritual thing." 
One may as well contend that one must eat a full 
meal in order to receive the Lord's Supper, as to 
argue that you must be drenched in order to be 
baptized. 

Without entering at large into the question, 
which would take me quite beyond my limits, I 
content myself with saying that the quantity of 
water is quite an immaterial part of the Sacra- 
ment (the Church manifests her characteristic 
wisdom and benignity in allowing both modes) ; 
that the practice of affusion seems to have been, 
as I fully believe it was, the primitive mode ; 
that there are accounts in Scripture of baptisms 
where immersion was scarcely possible ; that af- 
fusion can be practised everywhere, among all 
nations, in all climes and localities ; that immer- 
sion in some climes and localities and seasons is 
impracticable, and that, therefore, it is more 



INFANT BAPTISM. ICX) 

reasonable to suppose that where an ordinance 

was to be of universal obligation, the mode of its 
administration would properly be one of universal 
practicability ; it being in accord with the analogy 
of God's dealings, to accommodate the Divine 
requirements to human necessities ; that baptism 
being made (equally with the Sabbath) "for man," 
the mode thereof would likewise be adapted with 
the same wise and benignant accommodation 
to all men, in all clime's, and under all circum- 
stances. 

Looking at the whole matter from this larger 
view-point, the insisting upon a special mode of 
receiving men into Christ's Kingdom, — which is 
never exactly decorous, as in the case of woman ; 
sometimes harsh, as amid the rigors of winter ; 
sometimes impracticable, as in countries where 
little water is to be found, — is not a reasonable 
thing, and is not in harmony with the genius of 
the Gospel of our Lord. Strange it is that some 
good, and reputed great, men take quite the oppo- 
site view. They see nothing in the Scripture ac- 
counts but immersion, immersion : whether in 
the crowded streets of Jerusalem, where thousands 
were unexpectedly baptized, or in the jail at Phi- 
lippi at midnight, they always imagine full foun- 
tains, and overflowing streams. Even in the 
people's flocking to Enon, near to Salim, " where 



110 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

much water was," the practicability of immersing 
is the first moving cause to these brethren, who 
seem to look at all these accounts with a water- 
lens. They never stop to ask, how little water 
would suffice to baptize many men? — a good- 
sized baptistery would suffice — and how much 
water would be required to quench the thirst of a 
thousand camels upon which the people went to 
"Enon"? — ten camels requiring more for their 
satisfaction, than a thousand men for baptism by 
immersion. 

The Baptist theory of essential immersion, 
stands out in the whole scheme of Redemption, 
not grand indeed to my vision, but solitary and 
peculiar, often harsh, and in some instances im- 
practicable. Happily, it has made itself exclu- 
sive. The worst thing about it is, that it 
oftentimes becomes the "fetich" to the ignorant 
white and black man. It satisfies his senses 
to the full. He is all over a Christian when 
dipped. In a great number of cases, it ends the 
whole matter. His teachers do not believe or 
tell him any such thing, I am well assured ; but 
the extravagant stress which they put upon the 
"dipping," — a process which separates him from 
all other Christians, and all other Christians from 
him, — naturally produces the result in weak and 
ignorant people. 



THE METHODISTS. Ill 

THE METHODISTS. 
The Methodists constitute a very large and in- 
fluential body in the United States, and exist as a 
denomination in Great Britain and her dependen- 
cies, and have missions in foreign lands. Their 
government is Episcopal, made so by the assump- 
tion of the Episcopal functions on the part of two 
of their presbyters, who had been sent out to the 
American Colonies by John Wesley, the founder 
of the sect. Much controversy has arisen as to 
the intentions of John Wesley. There is evidence 
enough to show that he did not intend to form a 
sect in England, apart from the Church of Eng- 
land, where there was a national Church estab- 
lished ; and yet, there is also evidence to show 
that he did contemplate the organization of a dis- 
tinct sect in the American Colonies, although he 
disapproved of the assumption of the Episcopate 
by Coke and Asbury, his superintendents in the 
Colonies, and held it up — as it deserved to be — 
to ridicule : " Call me a knave, dear Franky [Dr. 
Francis Asbury], but not a Bishop." Wesley had 
the sense and churchmanship to know that he, a 
Presbyter, could not make a Bishop. But Wesley's 
intentions, whatever they may be claimed to be, 
or proved to be, are of no moment ; for the ques- 
tion is one of authority > not of Wesley's intention. 



112 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

The founders of Methodism were men of zeal, 
earnestness, and power. They preached with 
unction some of the great truths of the gospel, 
and encouraged the emotional element to a great 
and enthusiastic degree. The low condition of 
piety in the Church of England at the time 
greatly favored the growth of the sect. Had the 
English Church acted with the wisdom and fore- 
cast which have marked her more recent adminis- 
tration, Methodism might have been utilized and 
controlled. The Church of England greatly needed 
a stimulus. But unwise counsels prevailed ; and 
the Methodists, especially in the United States, 
took a determinate movement away from the 
Apostolic Church. Wesley himself never left the 
ministry of the Church. 

His followers very early took ground against 
domestic slavery ; and the pressure of this question 
had divided the body into " Methodists North," and 
" Methodists South," before the breaking out of the 
civil war. So great was the mutual repulsion on 
the part of the two bodies thus divided, that they 
have never yet been able to come together in legis- 
lative union, notwithstanding the fact that slavery 
— the original cause of the division — no longer 
exists. Unhappily, the Methodists have become in 
the Northern States too much of a political power, 
and candidates for the Presidency find it to their 



THE METHODISTS. 113 

interest to play into their hands. As they have 
gained in political power, they seem to have de- 
clined in piety and religious zeal (I refer now to 
the Methodist Church North), and are gradually 
losing some of their strictest notions of certain 
matters pertaining to dress, amusements, and the 
like, — the ultimate fate of all Puritanism. Their 
organization is one of great power; and through 
their varied functionaries, they manage to move 
the whole body of the Communion by the will of 
a few leaders. Two of their Conferences thanked 
Congress for impeaching President Andrew John- 
son before his trial took place. In some particu- 
lars, they are more like the Church of England 
and her daughter in America, than any of. the 
Denominations. They still retain a considerable 
portion of the Book of Common Prayer, in a muti- 
lated form, and they use it at funerals, marriages, 
baptisms, and celebrations of the Lord's Supper ; 
thus showing, that, when they wish to draw es- 
pecially near unto God, they resort to the use of 
a form. But yet, at the same time, it is the 
fashion of some of their preachers to declaim 
vehemently against the use of forms in worship. 
Such is man's inconsistency. They cannot be 
said to have any "distinctive denominational 
principles," — as do the Baptists, — but owe their 
growth and extension to their zeal and diligence, 



114 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

which I have ever admired in them, and am glad 
to recognize at all times. Their founders — Wes- 
ley, Whitefield, etc. — were men of power ; and 
they were all brought up in the Church of Eng- 
land, and taught by Church mothers in the Church 
catechism, baptized, confirmed, and ordained by 
the ministry of the Church of England. Some 
years ago, a party rose up among them who pro- 
tested against having Bishops, and claimed that 
laymen should have a voice in their legislative 
bodies. It is surprising, that, with the last-named 
popular claim to public favor, the Protestant 
Methodists — for such was their name — should 
not have had a larger following ; but they have 
never become a large body ; and now that the 
Episcopal Methodists have admitted to some ex- 
tent lay representation, they appear to have lost 
much of their original prestige, and will probably 
die out. 

CONCLUSION OF MATTERS PERTAINING TO 
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS. 
A word more just here in regard to the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church, — the Church of my fore- 
fathers, so far as any records go. My descendants 
will find, as I have found, that the Church of their 
forefathers presents to them all that man needs 
to enable him to live a religious life, and at the 



RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION 115 

same time to maintain that individuality and free- 
dom of thought without which religion can have 
no charm and no enduring power. She gives us 
the ministry in unbroken line from Apostolic days, 
and the Catholic Creeds, and none other, as the 
doctrinal conditions of communion. She gives us 
for our rule of life, the commandments of God 
and the precepts of Christ. She leaves it to 
"societies " to add to the faith and the law. She 
provides a mode of worship, simple, majestic, and 
reverential, where all men's needs are provided 
for, and the great and good God is worshipped "in 
the beauty of holiness." In her legislative action, 
there is guaranteed, as far as human sagacity can 
guarantee any thing, safety and protection for all 
who come within the reach of her authority. The 
constitution and canons of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church in the United States are, in my 
judgment, and that of wiser men than I am, the 
justest and most conservative body of laws and 
canons that have ever been framed by men. 
Every order and estate of men in the Church is 
cared for. Class legislation is impossible under 
her system. Her whole history has been marked 
by so much wisdom, moderation, and conserva- 
tism, that wise, moderate, and conservative men 
have been drawn to her by elective affinity. 
What a record is the roll of her children ! Her 



Il6 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

teachings are specially adapted to enlighten the 
ignorant, to raise up the lowly, and keep down the 
proud. Hence, the multitude love to go where 
they can be exalted. I desire no higher honor 
than to have my name registered in her roll. I 
ask no greater security for my children than that 
they may be found in her ranks. I have no higher 
ambition than to be found at the last day among 
her true followers. For my brethren and compan- 
ions' sake, I wish her prosperity. Above my chief 
joy, I prefer her — Jerusalem, my mother! 

Let me say a word just here. There are some 
few in our communion, who manifest an undisguised 
aversion to the Protestant character of our Church. 
The desire to drop the name of " Protestant " is 
with some, I fear, the indication of this aversion. 
If I thought that this was the underlying animus 
of all who favored the change, I should retain the 
name at all hazards ; because the conflict then 
would be for principle, and the name would be the 
flag around which every true son of the Church 
should rally. 

There are some in our midst who decry the 
Reformation, and disparage the great reformers. 
I have only one word for them. As I view the 
matter, they are not honest to their vow, "to 
preach the gospel " "as Christ hath commanded and 
this Church hath received the same." We have a 



RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS CONCLUDED. WJ 

pure and majestic ritual: let us not ape any other 
system. Some scientists think that men ascended 
from the monkey. I have not witnessed that phe- 
nomenon, but every now and then I am satisfied 
that I have seen a man descend to the monkey. 
I heard the Bishop of Sodor and Man make a 
speech at Wolverhampton, England, some twenty 
years ago. He concluded by saying, " Finally, my 
Brethren, beware of monks and monkeys." For 
my part, I had rather see a man a monk than a 
monkey; and I occasionally suggest to some 
youthful specimens of the latter species, " If you 
don't like the 'Reformed Church,' the 'unre- 
formed ' Church has its doors open to receive you. 
Go home! In the name of truth, sincerity, and 
decency, so far as in you lies, be what you purport 
to be. Use the language of the Bible and of 
your mother, the Church, and speak not in dubious 
and long since discarded phraseology of ' masses,' " 
etc. Sometimes, when I hear of a certain kind 
of priests bewailing the Reformation, and using 
such phrases as "wretched Latimer," etc., the 
doubt will rise in my mind whether such men 
would not prefer to have piled additional fagots 
about the stake, rather than to have gone up 
with those glorious martyrs in chariots of fire 
to Paradise. 



Il8 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, AND SCIENTISM. 

I have thrown these three together for conven- 
ient handling, and not at all to ignore or confound 
the distinctions between them. Just now they 
seem to be playing into each other's hands ; and, 
by their " nocking together," they seem to be in 
some sort "birds of a feather." The rampant 
spirit of rationalism in common life, in the public 
press, and, sad to say, in the pulpit and at the 
altar, allies itself with a vaunting scientism, and 
together they have engendered a spirit of scep- 
ticism, which threatens the very existence of faith 
itself. Where do you find the spirit of a Newton 
and Bacon, accepting alike, with a childlike mind, 
— the only safe mind, — the teachings of Revela- 
tion and the conclusions of a stern inductive phi- 
losophy ? Bacon truly and grandly said that the 
entrance into the Kingdom of God and into the 
realms of science demanded the selfsame spirit, — 
that of the child. 

I wish, above all else, for my children, that they 
shall believe in Christ. If there is no reality in 
Christ, then our life goes out in darkness: — I 
leave my children without the sun, and I take my 
leap in the dark. But you will perhaps say, "What 
must I believe ? there is so much diversity of opin- 
ion : what is truth ? " I answer, Christ is " The 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, SCIENTISM. I 19 

Truth;" "Christianity" — a term not known to 
Revelation — is but vague and uncertain ; " Christ " 
is one and the same, "yesterday, to-day, and 
forever: " — of this more anon. 

If you take a superficial view of the distracted 
condition of Christendom, you will be tempted at 
times to think that there must be some serious 
cause for uncertainty where there is so much 
diversity of opinion. Not so : a deeper view will 
bring you to a sounder conclusion. Let me illus- 
trate my meaning. Suppose, by way of illustra- 
tion, that a dozen men are called to the witness- 
stand, to testify in a given case. They all differ 
in their testimony upon certain points of evidence ; 
but upon certain other points, vital and fundamen- 
tal, as all confess, they all agree. What conclu- 
sion would you come to ? Naturally and reason- 
ably, I think, to this conclusion ; viz., that the 
matters upon which they are all agreed are fully 
proven, and not less fully proven because of their 
diversity of statement of certain other particulars ; 
indeed, more satisfactorily proven because of that 
diversity, — the diversity going to show that there 
is no collusion among the witnesses. 

Now, apply this illustration. Nearly all Christian 
people, of whatever name, are agreed upon the mat- 
ters of faith set forth in the Creeds of the Church. 
(The exceptions are so small as to be inappreciable 



120 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

in a large and comprehensive view of Christendom.) 
Now, these Creeds contain the vital facts of the 
Christian faith, — the Fatherhood of God, the In- 
carnation and Atonement of Christ, and the Person- 
ality of the Holy Spirit, the Life-Giver, Sanctifier, 
and Comforter. The truths set forth in these 
Creeds are so vital and all-pervading, that a belief 
in them entitles such believer (so far as his faith 
is concerned) to baptism and membership in 
Christ. The Christian peoples affirming this faith 
are divided among themselves in many points, — 
points of religious opinion, ritual, polity, and 
usages, — but they are one in " the faith." Chris- 
tendom thus, indeed, presents from this point 
of view an undivided front. The main line of 
the Church Militant is unbroken, notwithstand- 
ing a few divisions have been routed and scattered 
or captured. What, then, becomes of the argu- 
ments used by infidels and scoffers, that they 
know not what to believe in view of the divided 
condition of Christianity ? If they will accept 
only the faith in which Christendom is united, and 
accept it as rational beings should accept such a 
faith, they will be good Christians. 

Moreover, as it regards morals, all Christians are 
united in accepting the law of God, interpreted by 
Christ, as the rule of a Christian man's life. Let 
any man live up to those precepts of Christ, which 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, SCIENTISM. 121 

all Christendom accepts, and he will live a godly 
and Christian life. How strong, then, and hitherto 
unassailable, is the line held by the Church Mil- 
itant, — " the blessed company of all faithful peo- 
ple." I might pause here to note how weak, 
lamentable, foolish, and wicked a thing it is for 
any Christian man to do any thing to weaken the 
strength of this line by needless and ambitious 
divisions, but this is aside from my present pur- 
pose. 

Infidelity, in every age of the world, has 
planted itself for the overthrow of Christianity — 
as yet, without any serious break of the line of 
Christian truth. Every argument that the wit 
of man and the malice of the Adversary could 
devise has been levelled against it, so far without 
success. Every new discovery in science has 
been peered into to find a weapon with which to 
attack the intrenchments. The heavens have 
been scaled, the ocean sounded, the bowels of the 
earth have been ransacked, with this same hos- 
tile intent. Jews, Turks, infidels, heretics, and 
scientists have made common cause against that 
system which will yield to none, and would fain 
save all. Yet the faith still survives and triumphs. 
A wonderful and sublime spectacle it is indeed, 
inspiring and strengthening the faith of all who 
declare that of "this Kingdom there shall be no 



122 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

end." Modern scientism, with the same intent, 
has gone to work, with a diligence, eloquence, and 
research worthy of a better cause, to batter down 
the walls hitherto impregnable. Its highest 
achievements, were it to accomplish its purpose, 
would be to deprive man of God's Fatherhood, 
quench the light of revealed truth, destroy all 
hope of immortality, and range the race of men 
among the brute creation, — an animal only of a 
higher order. 

It is a matter of profound interest to inquire 
whence this spirit was evoked which would bring 
such a blight upon the fair creation. If it were 
the necessary conclusion of science, which it is 
not, one would think it would be reached at least 
with a sigh or a moan. But there are men who 
can render the whole world Fatherless without a 
sigh ; extinguish every hope beyond the grave 
without a pang ; and dissolve the faith of cen- 
turies without a tear, alas ! I have no quarrel 
with science. Christianity has none. Her sphere 
never traverses the orbit in which science has its 
being. Science, truly so called, is the handmaid 
of revealed truth. It is the opposition of science, 
falsely so called, which we have to encounter. 
Where science stops, having reached its uttermost 
verge, and finds forces and powers which elude 
investigation, and baffle all inquiry, there revela- 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, SCIENTISM. I 23 

tion begins, and discloses to faith the Divine 
Fatherhood in the Great Creator, in Whom all 
things live, move, and have their being. The 
present favorite theory of what are called advanced 
scientists, is that of evolution, not development, 
which latter is always in manifest working. Under 
this theory of evolution, not only the lower crea- 
tion, but man himself, mind and all, is the product 
of endless series of growth from an original germ 
— they call it "Protoplasm." There would be no 
serious objection to this theory, if it had any 
adequate proof to sustain it ; but so far, it is 
announced and heralded without sufficient creden- 
tials. No scientific theory can claim our accept- 
ance until it has received what we may call 
"catholic consent." The same rule, you will ob- 
serve, holds in regard to scientific truth as to 
revealed truth. The theory of evolution has not 
received universal acceptance, even among scien- 
tific men. Astronomy is a science, — has its fixed 
laws, and prevails by catholic consent. It is not 
yet so with evolution : it is still under trial and 
investigation. The scientist, as does the secta- 
rian, flies off from the catholic system, and attaches 
himself to a "school" of thought. Like the sect- 
ist, he parades his individuality, and founds a sect 
in philosophy. Meanwhile, you can afford to wait 
for the conclusions of science. Receive them as 



124 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

true, and adjust yourselves to their logical re- 
quirements. If the theory were true, they have 
only removed the difficulty a step farther back. 
They have not quit themselves of the necessity of 
an original creator. For whether the Creator, by 
virtue of His omnipotent power, created all things 
after the genera in which they now exist, or cre- 
ated the original material, out of which all things 
were successively evolved, there is equally a 
necessity for an original creative act. Therefore, 
evolution, if it were true as a theory, and proved 
to be true by induction, could not affect the truth 
of the being of a God, — the first truth in natural 
as in revealed religion. Therefore, in so far forth 
as the existence of a God is concerned, they, the 
theorists, may safely go on with their theories ; 
but they will ever find, and find it pretty soon, a 
force, a life, or whatever they may choose to call 
it, permeating all things, explaining all things, — 
itself inexplicable. They call it "the 'unknow- 
able?" They have reached the end of their line : 
it has run itself out, but they have not touched 
bottom. Yet they vaunt themselves upon having 
found the unknowable. One would think they 
would be touched with something of humility and 
reverence, but I have failed to see that spirit ; 
rather that of vanity — strange that man's vanity 
should be inflated by the discovery of his igno- 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, SCIENTISM. 1 25 

ranee ! Practically, however, the theories of the 
modern scientist have tended, in a great many 
minds, to obliterate the sense of a God, and to 
diminish faith in all Divine revelation. This is its 
practical outcome among great numbers, showing, 
I think, how easily people will become credulous 
when they have no faith : having not the truth, 
they will clutch at its caricature. I have read 
much of the writings of these men. They seem 
to be what we would call smart men : they do 
not strike me as profound men. They do not im- 
press me as Plato and Aristotle and Shakspeare 
and Bacon impress me. They seem, in compari- 
son, to theorize and chatter. I have great sympa- 
thy with a modern writer who is reported to have 
said, " I am content to find my ancestors in the 
Garden of Eden. Let those who prefer otherwise, 
seek theirs in the ' Zoological Gardens.' " But one 
thing they do ; and for that, all good and true men 
must hold them accountable, if at no other bar, 
at the bar of decorum and reason. Their influ- 
ence goes to destroy alike the sense of God, and 
to lower the dignity and responsibility of man. 
The revealed Word — which I cannot throw away 
for the sake of an unproven theory — the revealed 
Word, I say, proclaims that at creation, God made 
man, and made him as He made nothing else; 
did not evolve him by gradual processes from 



126 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

lowest germs, but made him after His own image, 
and endowed him after His own likeness. I can- 
not throw away that truth, with all that it involves 
of human dignity and possible immortality, for an 
undemonstrated theory. Surely, what St. Paul 
said of the heathen of his day, is true of the hea- 
then now in the midst of Christianity: "they did 
not like to retain God in their knowledge." O 
my children ! Come not ye into their assembly ; 
unite not your honor to such as these! These 
men are not blessing their race by any moral 
earnestness. They are not founding your homes 
for the destitute, the widow, and the fatherless. 
They are prating ; — " ever learning, and never 
able to come to a knowledge of the truth." Learn 
the principles of science (as Newton and Bacon 
taught them), and you will never be beguiled by 
the fallacies of scientism. 

Evolutionists of the most advanced school tell 
us that man, starting from the simplest forms of 
matter, — mind itself being but "a mode of brain- 
motion," — and evolving by gradual processes, is 
moving on to perfection ; that thus, finally, all 
evils will be rectified, all disorders adjusted, all 
rights recognized, and the regeneration of society 
fully accomplished. The antagonisms and discon- 
tent of the laboring classes, the struggles of woman 
for what she claims as her rightful co-ordination in 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, SCIENTISM. \2J 

human affairs, etc., — all these are triumphantly 
pointed to as indications of the progress of society 
to its perfect consummation. In all such prognos- 
tications, the influence of the Christian religion is 
by some disparaged, by some ignored, and by 
others utterly repudiated as a superstition, barring 
the way to a more rapid progress. These men 
glory in the fact that they have nothing to do 
with any thing save "phenomena;" and by that 
expression, they mean the phenomena of the 
material world, counting nothing real save that 
which is material. 

Yet there are phenomena in the world of mind 
which cannot rationally be ignored, and which 
must be considered, classified, and explained. 
There are questions which force themselves upon 
the mind, and which must be answered in some 
way. They demand an answer. Such a question 
is this, for example, " What think ye of Christ ? 
whose Son is He ? " It will not do to say that 
this question is irrelevant to the scientific mind. 
He stands face to face with this undeniable and 
pregnant fact, that, only in those parts of the 
earth where the Christian religion prevails, is 
there any marked advancement, even in science 
and in the industries and arts of life ; and that the 
only heathen nations which are now manifesting 
signs of awakening life — as China and Japan — are 



128 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

those which have felt the quickening influences of 
contact with Christian peoples. This question, 
and other questions of similar import, cannot be 
contemptuously thrust aside, and relegated to the 
"domain of metaphysical investigation." They 
are matters of fact — as much so as any in the 
domain of physics ; and are quite as worthy of 
observation as the anatomy and habits of bugs 
and reptiles. The indifference of some so-called 
wise men to the study of " final causes " is to me 
an astounding phenomenon, and causes one often 
to doubt whether every man is indeed a truly 
rational being. I met with a disciple of this 
school some time ago. Such men abound nowa- 
days ; — smart indeed, but not very profound ; 
dealing with the surface of questions, and con- 
temptuously ignoring all consideration of the final 
causes of things visible or invisible. We fell 
into discourse upon religious matters. I urged 
upon him the importance of considering such 
matters : he replied that he " had no faith what- 
ever in Christianity ; that he had read volume upon 
volume on Christian evidences, but they had made 
no impression on his mind ; " and concluded by 
saying " that it was not worth while for us to 
argue the matter, because there was no common 
ground from which we could start." I then 
asked him "if he did not think it the duty of 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, SCIENTISM. 1 29 

every man to try to bring himself, by culture 
and labor, to his highest possible perfection ? " — 
"Unquestionably," he replied. "Well, then," said 
I, " here is a ground we can both start from. 
Now, in the effort to bring your character to its 
highest perfection, must you not have some rule, 
standard, or model by which to work ? The 
artist who wishes to make a representation of 
some object in nature, say a tree, or horse, 
seeks out the best specimen of such object, and 
aims to reproduce it, does he not ? " — "Yes," he 
said, "assuredly." — "Then," I urged, "in trying 
to bring yourself up to your highest capability, 
would you not, for like reason, cast about you for 
the best specimen of human character, in order 
that you might have the advantage of a model to 
work by ? You would not reasonably look within 
yourself for the ideal man. The effort to make 
yourself a better man implies, that, as yet, you 
know yourself to be an imperfect one : in making 
yourself the ideal, you would be only repeating 
and reproducing yourself, would you not ? " — 
"No," said he, "I would not look to myself. I 
would take some better specimen than myself for 
a model : I would properly take the best man 
that I knew, and try to imitate his virtues." — 
"Now," I urged, "who is the best man that 
ever lived ? " — "I know of but one man without 



130 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

sin," he very reverently said. "Who was that 
man?" — "Jesus Christ." — "Then, does it not 
follow from what you have admitted, that, in the 
effort to perfect your character, you should set 
before you for imitation Jesus Christ ? " — "I see 
no way of evading the conclusion," he admitted ; 
" but I did not anticipate reaching such a con- 
clusion." There is no way by which the above 
conclusion can be evaded, save by denying the 
supreme excellence of Christ; and to this depth 
the dreariest infidelity has rarely fallen. Surely, 
the man of science, the sociologist, the philan- 
thropist, can join in with the devout believer, in 
his most exalted mood, and all with one acclaim 
crown Him the Christ, Chief of all, "the One 
among ten thousand, the One altogether lovely." 

In this connection, let me further press the 
point, viz., that the scientists, even from their 
stand-point, are bound to meet the great question 
of questions, " What think ye of Christ ? whose 
Son is He ? " For if it be true, as they affirm, 
that man has been evolved from lowest forms of 
matter, and is to ascend, by continued evolution, 
to his highest perfection, how did it happen that 
the most perfect specimen of manhood appeared 
at the beginning of the Christian era ? — assuredly 
not the most advanced era in history. According 
to the accepted system of the philosophers of this 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, SCIENTISM. 131 

school, Christ should have appeared at the cul- 
minating point in evolution, and not at the in- 
auguration of His era. How came He to antedate 
the final consummation ? He has certainly done 
so. Every advancement in morals and social order 
at the present day is but an approximation — as yet, 
faint indeed — to the style of human life which He 
set forth in His teachings, and exemplified in per- 
son. All the beneficence of this, the most benefi- 
cent age of the world, in its care for the diseased, 
the destitute, and the outcast, finds its spirit and 
impersonation in Him Who "went about doing 
good." He is the luminous point in all history. 
His influence is the greatest known. His birth 
constituted a new era in time. All that man in 
the times before Him knew of the rights and 
humanities of life was in Christ renewed, enlarged, 
illuminated ; with much added that they knew not 
of. All that man has truly taught since, and is now 
truly teaching, of the relative duties of life, can be 
found in His precepts, and exemplified in His 
sublime life. The observance by all men of the 
Christian rule of life would bring about confess- 
edly a millennial age. Prophets converge in 
Him. Apostles radiate from Him. At this hour, 
the better part of the world, as it moves on 
and forward, looks back to Him for guidance, 
as oarsmen, propelling the boat, ever look back, 



132 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

as they row, to their helmsman. When human 
nature shall have reached its possible perfection, 
it will be because it has been more and more 
imbued with the spirit of Christ. Wars be- 
tween capital and labor, jealousies of caste, social 
antagonisms, and all wrongs, will cease when men 
shall be like Christ, when the laws of trade shall 
be superseded by the law of love, and every man 
shall "love his neighbor as himself." "Love 
worketh no ill; therefore love is the fulfilling 
of the law." Now let the men of science answer 
the question concerning Christ, " Whose Son is 
He ? " They cannot answer it from their stand- 
point. Their doctrine of heredity furnishes no 
clew to His parentage. From what they know, 
they must let that question rest in still silence. 

But take the Christian view, — that, not by 
natural generation, but by a supernatural incarna- 
tion — the Word of God becoming flesh — He, the 
Son of God — that is His heredity — came among 
men, — then all these questions, which cannot 
otherwise be explained, are fully answered. St. 
Philip said to the Master, " Lord, show us the 
Father, and it sufftceth." Yes, it sufficeth, — 
it covers the whole area of human need. The 
cry of Philip is the cry of suffering humanity, 
"Show us the Father." The answer which came 
from Christ responsive to this cry, is the crown- 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, SCIENTISM. 1 33 

ing knowledge to poor, struggling, and weary 
men. " Have I been so long time with you, and 
yet hast thou not known Me, Philip ? " " He 
that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." 
Would you, my children, become acquainted with 
God, your Father, and be at peace ? then study 
Him, not only in the realm of nature, where He 
so gloriously manifests His power and wisdom, 
but seek to know Him as mirrored in His only 
begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ — the 
"Brightness of the Father's glory — the express 
Image of His Person." 

Let nothing shake your faith in this foundation, 
which is elect and precious, — which has stayed 
the hopes of millions in past ages, and affords 
the only refuge and footing for the generations 
to come. 

"Let no man deceive you with vain words." 
Let no pretensions to profoundness in the smart 
men of the age for a moment beguile you. I have 
ever found profound men to be men of faith. 
They see deep enough to know that behind and 
below all physical phenomena, there is a great, 
first, and intelligent Cause, in whom all things 
live, move, and have their being. " He that 
formed the eye, shall not He see ? " Such men, 
instead of staggering at the mysteries of Revela- 
tion, accept them, in childlike faith, as the crown- 



134 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

ing proof of the exceeding love and graciousness 
of the Father, Who did not create a world in which 
He could not send His Word to His children — 
ay, more, send Him to take upon Himself their 
nature, to talk with them, and tell them of duty 
and danger, how to live and how to die, and thus 
how at last to find their way home to the Father's 
house, that they might dwell with Him forever. 
What a contemptible and dreary conception of 
the great and good Creator must they have, who 
cannot reckon it possible that He can guide and 
bless His children, hear their prayers when they 
cry unto Him ! A wise man would not make a 
machine which he could not guide and control 
according to his will. But I must close this long 
letter to you, my dear children. You will read 
these lines when I shall have passed away from 
your companionship, and shall have solved for 
myself the mystery of life and death. I end with 
an extract from my last will and testament, written 
before these lines were written. Speaking of my 
children and grandchildren, I write, — 

" I leave them my love and benediction. I ask 
of our Father for them no earthly honors or emolu- 
ments. He will give them 'food and raiment,' and 
' godliness with contentment,' if they ' seek first 
His kingdom and His righteousness;' but I do, 
with all my heart and soul, desire that they may 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, SCIENTISM. 135 

have a good and well-grounded interest in the 
Divine love and favor covenanted to them in 
Christ Jesus, our most blessed Lord and Saviour. 
I exhort them to reverence, and to cling to the 
traditions of their house, and to be ever loyal to 
that branch of the Church of Christ in which 
they received their baptism and nurture. I feel 
assured, that, though absent from them in the 
body, I shall be ever near them to the latest 
generations. I love them, and desire their wel- 
fare beyond all power of expression. ' Fear God, 
and keep His commandments ; for this is the 
whole duty of man.' 

" Avoid debt, my children, for debt brings with 
it a multitude of ills. ' Owe no man any thing, 
but to love ; ' and this debt of love, which we 
must owe to our fellow-men, is a most precious 
obligation, and the constant recognition of it in 
deeds of kindness gives a flavor to the whole 
life. 

"It is not necessary to live luxuriously, nor 
even to live comfortably ; but there is a deep 
necessity that you should live honestly. 

"The Lord of life gives us the true philosophy 
of life. 'A man's life consisteth not in the 
abundance of things which he possesseth.' One 
of His chief Apostles, who had learned from the 
Master this lesson of life, has left behind him this 



I36 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

record of himself — and what a record it is of the 
battle of life well fought and gloriously won ! — 
' I have learned, in whatsoever state I am> there- 
with to be content.' 

" I would rather be assured of your having 
gained this height of self-abnegation and faith, 
than to know that you would outrank in wealth 
the millionnaires of this generation. Worldly 
wealth is of time, and passes away with time. 
' Godliness, with contentment, is great gain : ' it 
is treasure laid up in heaven, beyond the reach of 
time, chance, or change. 

" You will hear ofttimes that this or that pas- 
sion is the root of all evil. The divine Word, with 
which a large view of life always tallies, declares 
that 'the love of money is the root of all [forms 
or descriptions of] evil.' It is pre-eminently the 
root of present existing evil. Now, whilst I am 
writing these lines, our people are in a craze. 
The spirit of speculation has made some wise 
men mad. Some will become rich ; many more 
poor ; the great mass of both rich and poor 
demoralized. This speculative spirit not only 
runs counter to the Christian code, it is in the 
long-run disastrous in a prudential point of view. 
The difference between legitimate, wholesome 
business and speculative trade is essentially this : 
in the one, all are profited, — the producer, the 



SCEPTICISM, RATIONALISM, SCIEXTISM. 1 37 

intermediary, and the consumer; in the other, the 
success of one is at the loss of his neighbor. 
This state of things is not only irreligious, but 
unwholesome. It is of the essence of gambling. 
Under its baleful influence, I see men all around 
me going down with a run, — ' erring from the 
faith,' ' falling into snares,' and ' piercing them- 
selves through with many sorrows.' 

"'Thou, O man of God, flee these things, and 
follow after righteousness. So shalt thou find 
peace at the last ! ' One approving look of 
the dear Lord, one gracious word of His, is of 
more value than all the honors and riches of the 
universe. As I stand at this moment on the 
border, and look back and forward, these truths, 
taught me in childhood, and impressed upon me 
by all my observation and experience of life, as- 
sume great distinctness. That only will survive 
all change and decay which links one in with eter- 
nity, and is as imperishable as the soul, — even 
the 'faith in Christ which worketh by love, which 
purifieth the heart, which giveth peace with God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord.' 

" My father gave his life to the sacred ministry. 
Of course, he left no money to his children. He 
left, however, an unsullied name, and the record 
of a useful and honorable life, — a priceless heri- 
tage indeed. He left for the guidance of his chil- 



I38 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

dren, among a thousand-fold suggestions, three 
special admonitions. I have tried to heed them, 
and I transmit them now for your guidance : — 

" 'Owe no man any thing, but to love.' 

" 'Be indifferent to the judgment of man : seek 
only to do what is right, and let your life speak 
for itself.' 

" ' Be careful not to make issues : but, having 
made them, maintain them at all hazard to the 
end.' 

" Now unto the gracious mercy and protection 
of the good and great Creator, the God and Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, I commend you, my 
children, now and evermore. Amen." 






INTRUSION OF THE MILITARY POWER. 1 39 



POST-BELLUM REMINISCENCES. 

It has occurred to me that the incidents re- 
corded below might afford my children some valu- 
able information and entertainment. They throw 
some light on this part of our country's history, 
and, I think, should see the light. 

INTRUSION OF THE MILITARY POWER. 

Just after the civil war, which reduced the 
State of Alabama to the condition of a military 
province, your grandfather became the object of 
a military order which closed the churches of his 
diocese, and subjected him to a notoriety which he 
neither desired nor anticipated. It is a long story, 
with which I will not burden these pages. You 
will find in the journals of my diocese a very full 
statement of the whole matter. You will also 
find a brief synoptical view in the " Centennial 
History of the Church in America." Let it suf- 
fice for me to say, that even at this hour, as I 
stand upon the border of time, there is not a word 
put down in the history of those events which I 
regret or would recall. I have in this matter the 
answer of a good conscience towards God and 
man. 

I give you here the briefest outline. When 



140 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

the war ended, I found the civil government of the 
State subverted, her constitution abrogated, her 
governor deposed, and held under duress, her 
whole civil power annihilated, the drumhead the 
only tribunal of justice. 

The first practical question that pressed upon 
me for decision was that relating to the use of 
the " Prayer for all those in Civil Authority," as 
formulated in the Book of Common Prayer. I 
looked around, and found no vestige of any such 
authority. I was under no ecclesiastical obliga- 
tion to use the prayer as it stood in the prayer- 
book ; for when I was consecrated a bishop, I had 
made a ''Declaration of Conformity" to the Con- 
stitution of the Church in the Confederate States. 

Some of the generals of the Federal army were 
kind enough to step forward, and attempt to 
solve all my doubts upon the question ; but they 
did not succeed in settling my difficulty. Prayer 
ought to be a very real and sincere thing ; and I 
could not find it in my heart to send up a prayer 
to Heaven for a blessing on what had no exist- 
ence, nor could I make up my mind to pray under 
dictation. But I was bound by a higher obliga- 
tion than any which man can impose, to pray 
for our rulers of whatever sort. The fact that 
they were holding us in slavish subjection did not 
release us from that obligation. Nor did we de- 



INTRUSION OF THE .MILITARY POWER. 141 

sire any such release. The fact that they had 
abrogated all the sanctions of our former legisla- 
tive, judicial, and executive government, only in- 
creased the necessity for more earnest prayers 
unto God that He would give grace to these sol- 
diers who held us under the bayonet, to " execute 
justice, and maintain truth." But when it came 
to ask the Almighty to give "health, prosperity, 
and long life " to the commander-in-chief of this 
body of men, who had settled down upon our 
whole country, and when officers with swords at 
their sides came to demand it, I, for one, had no 
doubt or misgiving as to what course I should pur- 
sue. I wish that some of my brethren who will 
not consent to catholicize our prayers — the 
prayer for the President is the one uncatholic spot 
in our regular liturgy — could have seen the ne- 
cessity as I then saw it. The wording of this 
prayer will have to be changed. The troubles in 
this country have not ended. We will have to go 
through all the diseases incident to a nation's 
childhood. We will have — we have already 
nearly had — rival Presidents-elect. It may be we 
shall have a President of Knights of Labor, with 
men of brawn and muscle to make good their 
pretensions. Then will come the strain; then 
timid people will palter with the Almighty in a 
double sense ; then feeble brethren, at the nod of 



142 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

a soldier, will wing heavenward their extorted little 
prayers (which are insults to Heaven), with pro- 
tests attached to them. I have known that to be 
done, and it may happen again. 

He studies history to little purpose who does 
not now provide for all the contingencies likely to 
arise in the course of events. What endless 
troubles came upon the people of England during 
the usurpation of Cromwell. The loyal men of 
the realm felt bound in conscience to pray for the 
king ; and the powers that were forbade it, and 
sent the offenders to prison or into exile. A state 
of things may exist in this country, when a rude 
soldier shall step up to the officiating minister, and 
demand to know which President of the United 
States he refers to in his prayer ; and it may even 
happen that one clergyman may be praying in one 
church for one President, and another in a neigh- 
boring church may be invoking long life and pros- 
perity upon another claimant to the office. He 
has read history very superficially who does not 
recognize the possibility of all that I have sup- 
posed. 

Situated as I was after the war of the States, 
with no existing civil authority over me, I was vir- 
tually ordered to "pray for the dead" with but 
slight hope of any present resurrection. They 
who mean nothing by their prayers can easily 



INTRUSION OF THE MILITARY POWER. 1 43 

pray for any thing or nothing. " Why do you 
curse so ? " said an acquaintance : "you offend me 
by your profanity." — " Ah, well ! " was the reply, 
"you pray a good deal, and I curse a good deal, 
but the Lord knows that neither of us means any 
thing by it." 

But this is aside. In the state of things above 
described, I issued a pastoral letter to my clergy, 
and told them that "the prayer for all those in 
civil authority" was out of place and utterly in- 
congruous under the present state of affairs ; that, 
whilst bound ever to pray for our rulers, there was 
a manifest incongruity in the prayer-book form of 
prayer for rulers which made it inapplicable to 
our people in their then condition ; that it was 
not a question of loyalty, but of congruity, and a 
question to be settled by none but an ecclesiasti- 
cal authority. The clergy fell into line to a man. 

Hearing that there were troubles brewing in 
Mobile, — I had refugeed in Greensborough, — I 
went there at once. I had been in the city but a 
few hours, when a servant came to my room, and 
told me that an officer had called to see me. Upon 
going to the parlor, a general of the Federal 
army introduced himself to me as an officer on 
the staff of the General commanding, and said 
that he had called by direction of said officer, to 
know when I meant to use the prayer for the 



144 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

President of the United States. I told him that 
that was a question the General had no right to 
ask, and that I answered no such questions if put 
in a tone of authority ; that the Church had her 
sphere of action, and could not permit any intru- 
sion. The officer was thrown aback, talked a 
good deal about the absoluteness of military power, 
and intimated, not obscurely, that I would have to 
succumb. I told him that he would see for him- 
self the issue. After a considerable talk on his 
part, — I preserving entire silence, — he proposed 
that we should talk the matter over as " between 
man and man." I told him that I had no senti- 
ment that was not open to the world, but none 
that could be extorted. 

He then in a very familiar way put the ques- 
tion anew under the programme of, as " between 
man and man." — "When do you think you will 
use the prayer-book prayer for the President ? " 

I answered, "When you all get away from 
here." This particular prayer was for a govern- 
ment of the people's choice and affection, — the 
loyal prayer of the Church of England, rather 
servilely continued in our liturgy. " The fact is, 
sir, that the government, as it is over us now, 
and impersonated in the President, is a govern- 
ment for which I desire the least ' length of life ' 
and the ' least prosperity ' that is consistent 



INTRUSION OF THE MILITARY TOWER. 145 

with the permissive will of God;" that we did 
ardently pray that he who held these reins of 
absolute power might have "grace" to execute 
judgment, and to maintain truth, etc., and hoped 
that our prayers would be answered. I then said 
to the officer, " Suppose our positions reversed ; 
suppose we had conquered you, and, amid all your 
desolation and sadness and humiliation, command- 
ed you to fall down upon your knees, and ask God 
to grant long life, health, and prosperity to our 
commanding officer, — would you do it ? " I can- 
not quote his reply, for his excitement threw him 
off his balance ; and he intimated in strong but 
profane terms, that he would be — something very 
dreadful — if he would. "Well," I said, "I am 
not disposed to use your phraseology; but, if 
I do that thing that you come to order me to do, 
— addressing the Almighty with my lips, when 
my heart is not in my prayer, —I run great 
danger of meeting the doom that you have hypo- 
thetical^ invoked upon your own head." He then 

left. 

In the course of a few days, there came out 
"general orders," shutting up all our churches, 
and "suspending" me from all my functions. 
These orders were, on the part of the general 
commanding the military district, accompanied 
with a shower of bad language that could only 



146 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

fall with its foul savor on the head of him who 
gave vent to it. 

Meanwhile, the churches were nearly all closed, 
and soldiers stationed at the doors to prevent en- 
trance. Yet it is a great mercy that even military 
rule cannot entirely close our communications with 
Heaven. We worshipped in private houses ; and 
I confirmed in churches which were not guarded 
by soldiers, issued Pastorals, etc., much to the 
indignation of the general who had suspended 
me from my functions. 

After a while, the Council of the Church in the 
Confederate States held its regular triennial ses- 
sion at Augusta, Ga. There the whole question 
of " the prayer for those in authority " was settled 
by the adoption of the old form in the Prayer- 
Book. Coupled with this action, however, was a 
"resolution" that each bishop should exercise his 
own discretion as to the time for its introduction. 
Upon this modification, I had absolutely insisted. 

By this action of the Council, it was competent 
for me at once to order the use of the prayer ; 
but as the military intrusion still existed, I de- 
layed the matter until the order should be with- 
drawn. It went hard with the General to do it ; 
but he was compelled by a higher power, and 
poured out his wrath in language that could only 
defile the lips from which it issued. 



RE-UNION OF THE CHURCHES. 1 47 

If I cannot say with the Apostle, " I have, after 
the manner of men, fought with beasts at Ephe- 
sus," I can truly say that there was poured upon 
my head a very flood of abuse and obloquy. I 
received it in all complacency. I do not know 
whether I most enjoy the plaudits of my friends 
or the abuse of my unfriends. It is grateful 
" laudari a laudato viro." The abuse of some 
men is a crown of glory. 

Now, I have made a long story very short. 
The whole narration might prove wearisome. 

RE-UNION OF THE CHURCHES NORTH AND SOUTH. 
I have dwelt at length upon this matter in 
the Memorial Sermon of Bishop Elliott, and it 
needs to say but little more. As I have before 
said, my own position was quite anomalous, 
because of my having been consecrated during 
the civil war. As a matter of course, the matter 
of Church re-union was among Church people 
the all-absorbing theme. The Southern Bishops 
looked at the matter from different stand-points, 
and came to different conclusions. Some of 
them took the ground, that, as the necessity 
for the formation of a Church South had ceased, 
the Council thereof should dissolve of itself, 
and the Bishops and dioceses, through their 
representatives, should appear in General Conven- 



148 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

tion at Philadelphia, as if no separation had taken 
place. 

Others took a different view, and thought it 
best and most expedient to keep up the Southern 
organization until the animus of the General Con- 
vention should have been made manifest. With- 
out going into the matter any farther, and without 
questioning for a moment the sincerity and con- 
scientiousness of any one, it will suffice to say 
that the legislative re-union — for there had been 
no breach of unity — took place without serious 
difficulty, and that all was settled harmoniously, 
to the great comfort of all who love and " pray for 
the peace of Jerusalem." 

I feel bound, however, to suggest one thought 
in this connection. Bishops Atkinson and Lay, 
two of our most able and revered Bishops, did 
appear and take their places in the " General Con- 
vention," which met in Philadelphia, in October, 
1865, and did not appear at the meeting of the 
'•' General Council " of the Southern Church, 
which met in Augusta, Ga., in November follow- 
ing. Their course in this respect was entirely 
consistent with their view of the situation, and it 
must be said to their honor that they did not take 
their seats in the House of Bishops in Philadelphia 
until they were entirely satisfied that every interest 
with which they suffered themselves put in charge 



RE- UNI ON OF THE CHURCHES. 1 49 

had been fully protected. In making my recogni- 
tion as Bishop of Alabama, a condition precedent 
to their action, they deserved my thanks, because 
their intention was kind ; but I feel it incumbent 
upon me to say that their interposition was never 
sought or expected by me. I knew that my posi- 
tion was peculiar, from the fact that I had been 
consecrated during the war, and no consent 
asked from the ecclesiastical authorities North. 
I had, therefore, fully determined to resign my 
jurisdiction, if my case constituted a bar to 
re-union. 

Much credit attaches to the course pursued by 
Bishops Atkinson and Lay in proceeding at once 
to Philadelphia, and it is generally said that their 
presence there tended more than any thing else 
to the promotion of re-union. Doubtless, their 
action had such influence ; and I would not write 
a word in disparagement of the course pursued by 
them. I must say, however, that there was an- 
other influence brought to bear upon the spirit of 
re-union, — the absence of such men as Bishops 
Elliott and Davis. It meant a great deal. There 
is no divine sanction in the legislative union of 
dioceses ; and their absence meant, " Let us 
wait, and see what it will be best for us to 
do." 

Dear brethren, all of them. They have passed 



150 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

into a higher realm, and how infinitely small must 
appear to them now the little perturbations of their 
mortal state ! 

There was one infelicity only attending the 
whole matter. The House of Bishops, in con- 
senting to my exercising jurisdiction in Alabama, 
coupled with their action an expression of "fra- 
ternal regrets " on account of my Pastoral in rela- 
tion to the use of the prayer for the President of 
the United States. I did not like it, but I passed 
it by. I made many allowances for that action. 
It was to some a hard matter to swallow, and the 
opportunity of flinging a passing regret seemed to 
make it less unpalatable. In relation to this par- 
ticular point, I merely observed — in my history of 
the whole affair, which is contained in my address 
to the Diocese of Alabama — as follows : " It 
would seem, that, in restoring old relations, the 
expression of ' regrets ' is in order ; and it may 
not be amiss in me to state, that, after careful 
review of the various pastorals put forth in the 
last unhappy years, there are very few in which 
we, who look at all that has taken place from a 
different stand-point, have not found occasion for 
'regrets,' to which we can give no adequate ex- 
pression." 

It is inexpressibly sweet and refreshing to one 
who for truth's sake and a good conscience has 



RE-UNION OF THE CHURCHES. I 5 I 

been misrepresented abroad, to come home and 
stand among his, own people, and hear from 
their lips the " well clone " of a universal appro- 
bation. 

I summed up to my diocese a history of my 
whole course, and closed in these words : — 

"Thus happily, as I think, the Church in Ala- 
bama has been able, through God's grace and 
kind Providence, to do her full duty, and to main- 
tain her dignity and propriety, and, looking alone 
to the weal of the whole body of Christ, to pur- 
sue a steady and consistent course. Hencefor- 
ward, guided by the same spirit which has thus 
far led us and governed all our deliberations, let 
us more than ever strive for those things which 
concern the glory of God and the good of His 
Church. 

"The indications are, that there is a glorious 
future for this branch of Christ's Universal 
Church. We are able to show to the world that 
we are not a sect, much less a sectional sect ; that 
the catholic spirit of the Southern dioceses 
has met a like response in the catholic spirit 
of the Northern dioceses, — deep calling unto 
deep, — giving us confidence that henceforth, as 
ever before, no political differences shall prevail to 
break the bonds of catholic unity and heaven-born 
charity." 



152 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

The whole address, with all its details, was re- 
ferred by the Council to a committee, which made 
the following report in the form of resolutions 
that were adopted without dissent : — 

"Resolved, 1st, That the firm, dignified, and 
Christian manner in which the independence and 
dignity of the Church in this Diocese have been 
maintained by its Bishop, the Right Rev. Richard 
H. Wilmer, D.D., during the trying ordeal of the 
last year, has elicited our admiration, and deserves 
our cordial thanks. 

" Resolved, 2d, That the explanation and defence 
of his course, as set forth in the address to this 
Council, place his conduct on ground that must 
challenge the assent and approbation of all just 
and thoughtful men. 

"Resolved, 3d, That the Bishop be requested to 
furnish a copy of his address, for publication. 

"These resolutions, on motion, were considered 
seriatim, and unanimously adopted." (Journal of 
Council for 1866.) 



In connection with the foregoing reminiscences, 
and forming a part of the whole subject, I give 
you below a copy of a letter which I wrote Bishop 
Hopkins of Vermont immediately after the close 
of the war of the States. 



A REPLY TO BISHOP HOPKINS'S LETTER. 1 53 

The good Bishop — and the Church in the 
United States has furnished no finer specimen 
of a learned, brave, and independent Bishop — ad- 
dressed a circular to the Southern dioceses, urging 
them to return without delay, and as a matter of 
course, to their old relations with the Church in 
the United States. Our wounds were still bleed- 
ing, and a little time was needed to heal them 
over. But the letter will best explain itself. 

A REPLY TO BISHOP HOPKINS' CIRCULAR LETTER 
TO THE SOUTHERN BISHOPS, BY ONE OF THEIR 
NUMBER. 

Mobile, Ala., Aug. i, 1S65. 

Right Rev. and dear Sir, — I have just re- 
ceived a printed circular, addressed by you, as 
senior Bishop, to the Bishops of the Southern 
dioceses. 

The tone of the circular is such as we might 
have expected from one who is never unmindful 
of the rights and feelings of his brethren. 

There is one point, however, in reference to 
which you will pardon me for saying a few words ; 
and I need not assure you that I do so with the 
utmost deference. 

In your pamphlet addressed to the Southern 
Church, in the year 1861, and in your recent cir- 
cular letter, you take the ground that the exist- 



154 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

ence of a separate legislative organization in the 
Southern States "would be clearly schismatical." 
In your letter you say, " and no theologian denies 
that a wilful and needless separation from the 
Church would be clearly schismatical." 

True, no theologian denies this proposition ; but 
there are many who will deny that the main- 
tenance of a separate legislative organization 
amounts, of itself, to a "separation from tht 
Church." The minor in the syllogism is here as- 
sumed, and constitutes the very point in debate. 

Is the Church in the United States "separated" 
from the Church in England? Yet they main- 
tain distinct legislative organizations. Can any 
two branches of the Church of Christ be properly 
said to be in a schismatical position — the one to 
the other — whilst they have a common doctrine 
and discipline, and maintain an unbroken recogni- 
tion and intercommunion ? Schism, as denned 
by the standard authorities, has reference prima- 
rily to the rending of communion, and cannot be 
truly predicated of branches of the Church of 
Christ which maintain intercommunion. 

No well-ordered mind can doubt that it is, for 
obvious reasons, highly expedient and desirable 
to have one ecclesiastical organization in one 
Nationality. 

Nay, more, it would seem to be desirable, if 



A REPLY TO PI SHOP IIOPKIXS'S LETTER. 1 55 

practicable, to have only one such body, with 
powers so extensive, in Christendom. 

But there is a condition of things which may 
render it still more desirable, and indeed essential, 
to have national organizations ; and circumstances 
may arise which will render it expedient to have 
distinct organizations within the boundaries of the 
same civil government — as, for example, in the 
case of the Episcopal Churches in England and 
Scotland. 

You say, in the sentence already quoted, 
a " wilful and needless separation," etc. You 
therein seem to take the ground, that a failure 
on the part of the Southern dioceses to come into 
legislative union with the General Convention 
would amount to a "wilful and needless separa- 
tion," etc. Permit me to say that the separation 
was not originally wilful, nor, in our judgment, 
needless. Whether a continued separation be 
wilful and needless will depend upon circum- 
stances not yet foreseen. It is, therefore, if you 
will pardon me for so saying, premature to pass 
judgment upon that point at the present time. 

We of the South have not, at this moment, 
sufficient data upon which to found a deliberate 
and well-advised action. We do not know what 
concessions and admissions may be required at 
our hands. We have no concessions or admis- 



156 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

sions to make ; and, therefore, there are some of 
the Bishops and their dioceses which will main- 
tain the organization of the " General Council," 
in order to be prepared for all contingencies 
whatsoever. 

Were all men, good Bishop, like-minded with 
yourself, we might have no hesitation in this 
matter ; but certain painful things are brought 
to our ears. 

One party proposes "to keep the Southern 
Churchmen for a while in the cold ; " "to put 
the rebels upon stools of repentance," etc. We 
see in the Journal of 1862, certain resolutions 
proposed, pronouncing certain worthy Bishops 
" schismatical," and proclaiming the jurisdiction 
of another Bishop "null and void." True, the 
resolutions were not adopted, but they indicate 
the temper of a part of that body ; and we have 
no means of ascertaining the complexion of the 
next " General Convention." Fanaticism grows 
fast in the hour of triumph. 

Again, a well-accredited rumor reaches us that 
the Pastoral prepared by yourself did not suit the 
temper of the House of Bishops, and that it was 
supplanted by one which gave the Church utter- 
ance in matters political. 

Now, suppose that the ensuing General Con- 
vention should decree that every deputy from a 



A REPLY TO BIS nor HOTKIXS'S LETTER. 1 57 

Southern diocese should, as a preliminary to tak- 
ing his seat, be required to purge himself, — to 
admit that the secession of the Southern States 
was a " rebellion," and that the organization of 
the General Council was a "schism," — in what 
a position would the deputies from the South 
be placed ? This is not an impossible, nor an 
improbable, supposition in view of the present 
pressure of the reigning fanaticism. The Pres- 
byterians and the Methodists appear disposed to 
take this attitude towards their membership in 
the South. We have indications, on all hands, 
that the Church has absorbed the sectarian ele- 
ment much more rapidly than she has assimilated 
it to her spirit. There is another feature of this 
subject not to be overlooked, and one which you 
cannot perhaps, to the full, appreciate. 

It is commonly remarked that the restoration 
of the union between the Churches, North and 
South, is a "mere question of time" and that, 
therefore, it is best to do at once what must, 
sooner or later, be accomplished. But there is 
something due to sentiment in this matter, and 
the healing influences of time must be permitted 
to have play. In questions which involve senti- 
ment, "the time" is an important element, and 
the logic which excludes it will greatly mislead. 
In some matters, the time of aetiou is every thing. 



158 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

There is nothing illegal in a second marriage, 
and it is generally a " mere question of time " with 
men when they shall marry again ; but, " The 
funeral baked meats do coldly furnish forth the 
marriage tables." 

The best men of the South are now under the 
ban. I cannot now recall the name of a single 
man, of those who have been ordinarily selected 
to represent the Southern dioceses in General 
Convention, who is not, in the estimation of 
public opinion at the North, "a rebel and traitor." 
But, more than this, they are classed under the 
President's proclamation as " unpardoned rebels 
and traitors." And this for obvious reasons. 
The prominent men of the South in the army at- 
tained a grade which now excludes them from 
the general amnesty ; the highest legal talent 
was placed in judicial positions, the occupancy of 
which renders them liable to the extremest penal- 
ties of the law ; the best talent in commercial 
and agricultural life has been so unfortunate as 
to accumulate property above twenty thousand 
dollars in amount. 

Now, from these classes of men, — men who have 
achieved position, — the Church would naturally 
select her deputies to the General Convention. 
It is a most significant fact (and one which must 
be understood, in all its bearings, by the Northern 



A HE PLY TO BISHOP HOPKINS'S LETTER. I 59 

mind, before deputies from all sections of the 
country can meet together in becoming harmony, 
and needful mutual respect), that the men whom, 
from our stand-point, we regard as the most truly 
loyal, and in all respects trustworthy, are precisely 
those who are stigmatized by the people of your 
section, and by your Bishops in their Pastorals, as 
"rebels and traitors." It is surely not unreason- 
able to assume that your people are honest in 
their opinions, and that they will be consistent 
in their actions. Treason is surely a dreadful 
crime. It may, therefore, reasonably be expected 
that they who denounced their Southern brethren 
as " traitors," will question the propriety of allow- 
ing them to take part in the deliberations of a 
"loyal Church." For aught we know, there may 
be a majority of the next General Convention who 
will be disposed to take this ground ; and I, for 
one, shall respect their consistency, whilst I can- 
not but lament their bigotry. 

Moreover, the Southern deputies themselves 
may very naturally be supposed to have some 
sentiment in this matter. Their sons and broth- 
ers lie in bloody graves ; their lands are deso- 
late, and strangers devour it in their presence; 
their emancipated slaves garrison their cities ; 
they live themselves, as yet, under the ban ; their 
representative man, no guiltier than themselves, 



l6o REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

is in bonds, and may have to die an ignominious 
death. The whole Southern people, therefore, 
are at this moment awaiting trial in the person of 
their representative head : they are denounced as 
felons, and a shackled press is forbidden to speak 
a word of vindication or remonstrance. Your own 
heart, good Bishop, will tell you that men in such 
a condition are in no mood to join in jttbilates 
over a restoration which is sealed by their degra- 
dation. The peace, for which Te Deums will be 
chanted, is purchased by the loss of their inherit-, 
ance, and they are now sitting in the deep valley of 
humiliation. The men of the South have no de- 
sire to prolong the hopeless conflict. They accept 
the failure of their effort as a fact, and, as Chris- 
tian men, will render a faithful allegiance to "the 
powers that be," for God's sake ; but it is asking 
too much of them that they shall swell the pageant 
which celebrates their subjugation. Some time, 
Bishop, must be given to the heart to school 
itself. Our people are in no mood for joyous con- 
gratulations. They are not yet out of mourning 
for their dead. It is easy for you to come together, 
and to join heartily in laudates for peace and re- 
union. Yours is the victorious section. It is 
easy for him who triumphs, to forgive ; and from 
your stand-point, you can thank God with a full 
heart. We are trying to forgive and to forget ; 



A REPLY TO BISHOP HOPKINS'S LETTER. l6l 

and, lifting up our hearts unto God from the dust, 
we arc trying to say, " Thy will be done." You do 
not know, dear Bishop, what we have to endure ; 
and your people "love to have it so." You will 
doubtless say, that the Church of God is " not of 
this world," and that, as Churchmen, we should 
take no note of these things. But, alas ! the whole 
Journal, Pastoral, etc., of the Church North, savor 
of these things. The next General Convention will 
beyond peradventure, discuss these things. The 
delegations from the various dioceses are even now 
marshalling for the conflict. Loyalty is now at a 
high premium, and the various religious bodies of 
the country will vie with each other in the struggle 
for popular favor. The Union sentiment, just 
now is uppermost in the public mind, and there 
are those who will train the legislation of the 
Church to catch the propitious breeze. That 
religious body will come just now into most favor, 
which renders itself most demonstratively loyal. 
We shall have, before long, tracts and books dedi- 
cated to the popular idol ; and the strongest 
"Reason why I am a Churchman" will be, not 
only that the Church is truly "Republican," — 
that has long since been sufficiently proven, — but 
that she is thoroughly "loyal." 

Excuse some of us, Bishop, for preferring just 
now to stand aloof from the discussion of these 



l62 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

subjects. Our own wounds are too recent to bear 
rough handling. We have no heart for them. 
We have no wish to discuss them, for there can 
be no free discussion. Nor can we, by our silent 
presence, be faithless to the memory of our dead, 
nor consent to stand by whilst others inscribe 
"traitor" on their gravestones. It is urged that 
we should act together and at once, lest the 
Roman Church should, by her united front, win 
the prestige of the hour. We all comprehend 
the reason of Rome's indifference to this Ameri- 
can conflict. She is not native born. Let the 
recent agitations of Italy, let her history for 
twelve centuries, testify as to whether the Church 
of Rome does always stand so serenely aloof from 
the political excitements of the day. Rome is 
not the mother of this child. She cares not 
whether it be divided or not. The judgment of a 
Solomon, therefore, is not required in disclosing 
the secret of her present indifference. 

We have a great work before us in this country, 
— to maintain Church supremacy within her 
sphere, and to thrust politics out of doors. In 
order to this, we shall be compelled to catholicize 
our prayers. The Church has suffered, and is 
now suffering, incalculably, from one local and 
political prayer. Scenes of violence have dese- 
crated her sanctuaries, the clergy have been 



A REPLY TO BIS HOT //OTA'EYS'S LETTER. 1 63 

driven from their flocks, and the sheep scattered. 
Sadder than all, the Priests of God have suc- 
cumbed before His altars at the beck of military- 
dictators. 

Should the animus of the next General Conven- 
tion be such as to commend itself to the heart 
and mind of the South, there will, I think, after a 
while, be no general disposition to keep up a sepa- 
rate organization. The General Council will be 
held, according to adjournment, at Mobile in 
November next. Its action, as a matter of course, 
must be somewhat affected by the animus exhib- 
ited in the General Convention. This animus 
we cannot, from the nature of the case, very 
clearly foresee ; and we are not in a position to 
exercise any control over it. We shall act, as the 
Church in the South has hitherto acted, dispas- 
sionately, and in view of the best interests of the 
Church. We cannot, however, be frightened from 
our propriety, nor can we be deterred from the 
adoption of any measures that may seem to us best 
and most expedient by the cry of " Schism !" 

Whilst having all the elements of a perfect 
branch of the Church of Christ, — the Word, the 
Ministry, and the Sacraments, — and being, in so 
far as our will can effect it, in perfect unit}' — 
both organic and subjective — with the Catholic 
Church, we can still pray from a full heart, " From 



164 REMINISCENCES OF A -GRANDFATHER. 

all schism, good Lord, deliver us," and think not, 
no, not for a moment, that we violate catholic unity, 
although we may not be represented in the General 
Convention of the Church in the United States. 

I sent you some time since a copy of the Pas- 
toral which I issued to the Diocese of Alabama 
at the close of the war. This Pastoral related to 
matters upon which we in the South have not 
altogether agreed among ourselves. I could not 
come satisfactorily to any other conclusion than 
that presented in the Pastoral. There should be 
reality in prayer, if nowhere else. The duty of 
the Church is, unquestionably, to pray for all in 
authority, of what kind soever. This she does in 
her litany and elsewhere. But the particular 
prayer in the liturgy, as its history proves, was 
conceived and worded with a special and very 
marked reference to the subject of the prayer, — 
"Civil Authority." In her Articles the Church 
declares the duty of obedience on the part of her 
members to "civil authority, legitimately and 
regularly constituted." It is this description of 
authority that the Church prays for in the prayer 
headed, "For all in civil authority." For this 
she cordially entreats a long continuance and 
prosperity. At this time measures are in prog- 
ress which look to the restoration of "legitimate 
and regularly constituted civil authority" in the 



A REPLY TO BISHOP HOPKINS'S LETTER. 1 65 

State of Alabama. When such authority is re- 
stored, the clergy of Alabama are required to 
resume the use of the " prayer for the President 
of the United States and all in civil authority." 

The above is substantially the letter which I 
wrote privately to you upon the receipt of your 
printed circular. I think it due to myself that 
this letter should go forth to the Bishops of the 
Church, in order to define my position, and to 
show that, in declining your invitation to be pres- 
ent at the General Convention, I am not acting 
without, at least, some show of reason. 

Depend upon it, dear Bishop, that any restora- 
tion of our ancient relations, which looks to the 
establishment of lasting harmony in the Church, 
must be based upon a good mutual understanding, 
and upon a due regard for the rights and feelings 
of all concerned. 

And now, clear Bishop, allow me to say that I 
have for many years regarded with veneration 
your faithful, consistent, and impartial mainten- 
ance of the truth, and to express the hope that 
you may long be spared to bless the Church of 
God by your counsels and by your example. 

Yours faithfully in Christ and in the Ministry of 

His Church, 

RICHARD H. WILMER, 

Bishop of the Diocese of Alabama. 

Rt. Rev. J. II. IIorKlNS, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Vermont. 



1 66 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 



NOTE BY BISHOP GREEN. 

Bishop Wilmer has read to me the above letter ; 
and I so fully concur in its sentiments, that I 
adopt it as my answer to your circular letter, ad- 
dressed to the Bishops of the Church in the 

South. 

WM. M. GREEN, 

Bishop of the Diocese of Mississippi. 

REV. WILLIAM H. WILMER, D.D., 

President of the University of William and Mary. Departed this Life 1827. 

Having finished my personal reminiscences, I 
give you a sketch of my father. I was too young 
to be able to speak of him from my personal 
knowledge. 

I scarcely know how to express my gratitude to 
the Rev. Philip Slaughter, D.D., of the Diocese 
of Virginia, for putting it in my power to hand 
down to you the following sketch of your great- 
grandfather. 

Dr. Slaughter still lives, and bears fruit in his 
old age. He is the historiographer of the Church 
in Virginia. Although now of extreme age, he 
still revives the past, and, as our " Old Mortality," 
keeps from oblivion the memory of noble deeds 
and noble men. 



REV. WILLIAM II. WILMER, D.D. 1 67 

REV. WILLIAM H. WILMER, D.D. 

The following is a sketch of Dr. Wilmcr in Mr. 
Slaughter's speech at the late jubilee of the The- 
ological Seminary. The subject is comparatively 
new, and is exhibited from new points of view 
with new illustrations. The Episcopal Church in 
Virginia is so much indebted to this clergyman, 
that we are sure Dr. Slaughter's brief history of 
him will be read with deep interest, and, we trust, 
with profit. Some of our younger readers may 
need to be told that Dr. Wilmer was the father of 
Bishop Wilmer of Alabama, and of Rev. Dr. 
George Wilmer of Williamsburg, — at this writ- 
ing, Professor of Divinity at Sewanee, — and the 
uncle of Bishop Wilmer of Louisiana, and that he 
was also one of three brothers, all of whom were 
clergymen of the Church. 

William H. Wilmer was born 1782, in Kent 
County, Aid. In his boyhood he received deep 
religious impressions from a pious aunt, which 
were confirmed during a severe illness, when, he 
says, he felt himself to be lying in the arms of a 
loving Father, Who looked upon him with a recon- 
ciled countenance, and he felt the "peace that 
passeth all understanding." 

He was educated at Washington College, Kent 
County, Md.; and his religious principles and de- 



1 68 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

meanor became subjects of mockery to the boys, 
who reproached him with a want of manliness in 
not joining them in swearing and gambling. He 
was overcome by the pressure for a time, and 
joined the boys in their wicked sports. But his 
conscience became so clamorous that he could not 
silence its voice, and he concluded it was better 
to endure the mockery of the boys than " to be in 
hell amid everlasting burnings." 

He resolutely refused to go again to a mill 
which was the scene of their sports. So they 
turned him over, as they said, to the Methodists, 
as serious people were called in those days. 

But (as he told one of his parishioners after- 
wards) he did not care what they called him, since 
the best man that ever lived deserved no better 
monument than this, "A sinner saved by grace." 
He told a daughter of Professor Campbell that he 
was about seventeen years old when "he took 
hold of the covenant for himself." "I felt that 
the precious gift of faith was given to me, that I 
was justified freely for Jesus' sake, and, being 
born again, the love of God was shed abroad in 
my soul by the Holy Ghost given to me." "As 
soon," he continued, "as I felt that I was accepted 
by God as His son, the thought flashed upon 
me, What church shall I join ? My heart re- 
sponded, The dear old neglected Episcopal 



REV. WILLIAM II. WILMER, D.D. 1 69 

Church ; and under her banner will I fight the 
good fight against the world, the flesh, and the 
Devil." 

He was ordained by Bishop Claggett in 1808, 
and for several years had charge of his native par- 
ish of Chestertown, Md. In 1812 he came to 
Virginia (Dr. Henshaw says, "at the instance of 
Mr. Meade "), and as rector of St. Paul's Church, 
Alexandria. The most cursory inspection of our 
journals of convention will show the prominent 
part which he played in the drama of the restora- 
tion of the Church and the foundation of the 
seminary. He was chosen by ballot to preside 
over the convention of 18 14, and preached the 
convention sermon, — a sermon which for felicity 
of style, soundness of doctrine, force of argu- 
ment, and power of appeal, is unmatched in the 
Virginia Church-literature of that day. In this 
sermon he says, — 

"When the sons of Judah escaped from the 
house of their prison, and returned again to build 
the temple, the foundation could only be laid by 
removing the splendid ruins of the desolated sanc- 
tuary : then came the remembrance of its former 
glories to mind, and they wept aloud. 

"Have we not equal cause for sorrow in the 
view which the desolated sanctuaries of the Most 
High in this State present ? As we hope, then, to 



170 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

repair the desolations of many generations, as we 
hope to preserve the virtue and happiness of our 
nation, as we hope to transmit to posterity the 
valuable inheritance of a form of sound words, as 
we hope to obtain that honorable and valuable 
eulogium, ' Well done, good and faithful servant,' 
let us seize the present moment to strengthen the 
things that remain, that they die not. This mor- 
bid insensibility which has crept upon the Church 
is, perhaps, not the sleep of death. It may be 
the crisis of her disease. We will yet hope that the 
system retains sufficient stamina for its resuscita- 
tion. Her doctrines and liturgy are yet unim- 
paired : and she furnishes in the principles and 
early prepossessions of the present generation a 
just foundation of hope, that, if her energies were 
directed by a proper administration, she would yet 
' arise from the dust, and put on her beautiful gar- 
ments ; ' that she would yet come forth from her 
exile ' clear as the moon, bright as the sun, and 
terrible as an army with banners.' 

" Let us arise, and redeem our honor, and that of 
our venerable Church. The eyes of Virginia are 
fixed upon us. To us the thousands who perish 
for lack of knowledge stretch forth their hands. 
From us they demand their portion of that inher- 
itance under the New Testament, of which we are 
the trustees and administrators. To us the Church 



REV. WILLIAM //. WILMER, D.D. 171 

looks for the confirmation of her best hopes. 
Leaders of the armies of the living God, to us is 
offered this first of honors, to us it is given to 
fight, if in the post of trial, also in the post of 
honor ; to us it is given to be covered with stars 
and laurels and honorable wounds, and to have a 
memorial more grateful than to be embalmed with 
a nation's tears." 

After this sermon the ballotings proceeded ; 
and Bishop Moore was elected Bishop of Virginia, 
— the old man eloquent, whose heart was a deep 
well of sanctified emotion, overflowing in tears 
from his eyes, falling in musical cadences from his 
lips, and streaming like electric sparks from his 
gray hairs, and from his trembling hands, and 
producing a sensation the like of which had not 
been seen in our Church since the era of Dev- 
ereux Jarratt, the morning star of the Virginia 
Reformation, whose mantle Bishop Moore so 
touchingly invoked the first time he entered Old 
Sapony. Dr. Wilmer was always President of the 
Standing Committee, and often of that on the State 
of the Church, and the author of many of their 
reports. He was always at the head of the dele- 
gation to the General Convention, and presided 
with distinguished ability over the House of 
Clerical and Lay Deputies for four successive 
sessions. He was an active member of the Com- 



172 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

mittee on Canons and of the Prayer-Book Society, 
and indeed of other committees, of whose reports 
he was generally the draughtsman. He, with Mr. 
Oliver Norris, according to Bishop Meade, im- 
ported the Canon on Clerical Discipline from the 
Maryland code. In 181 8 he recommended that 
the clergy be requested to take students for the 
ministry into their families, and that they might be 
licensed as lay-readers. The Education Society, 
which was the true mother of the Seminary, — 
whoever may have been its father, — was a reali- 
zation of these views, and was organized the same 
year, he being its President so long as he remained 
in Alexandria. The "Repertory" contains stir- 
ring addresses from this Society, of which he was 
the author. In 18 19 he, with Mr. Hawley and 
others, established the " Theological Repertory," 
which was the organ of the society, and the loud 
champion of the Seminary in every emergency, 
and from whose pages a discerning critic might 
extract a volume of theological literature of no 
small merit from his pen. In 1820 he recom- 
mended the project of Dr. Smith for a Theologi- 
cal Professorship in Williamsburg, and in 1821 he 
advocated its establishment and the appointment 
of trustees, all of which was done. He made the 
first report from the trustees of the Seminary ; 
peculiar circumstances, he said, making it neces- 



REV. WILLIAM //. WILMER, D.D. 1 73 

sary to cherish such an institution in the South. 
In 1822, the Convention of Maryland having re- 
solved to establish a Theological Seminary in that 
diocese, Dr. Wilmer was elected President of 
the Faculty. Bishop Kemp laid his hand upon 
this scheme, and crushed it ; and thus by an act of 
Providence, the friends and funds of that institu- 
tion were transferred to our Seminary in its time 
of need, adding material and moral support to our 
infant institution. In 1823, Bishop Moore having 
been detained by business from the Convention, 
Dr. Wilmer was elected its President. 

Professors being wanting in the Seminary at 
Alexandria to aid Dr. Keith, Dr. Wilmer gener- 
ously consented to take charge of the departments 
of Systematic Divinity, Ecclesiastical History, and 
Church Polity, without fee or reward, in addition 
to his heavy duties as rector of St. Paul's Church, 
Alexandria, which had been built in 18 18 to ac- 
commodate the large congregation which had over- 
flowed the old church. 

In 1824 he called upon the families in Virginia 
who had spare books, to send them to Dr. Keith, 
as the nucleus of a library for the Seminary. 
He was also the author of several addresses in 
behalf of the " Episcopal fund ; " and, in response 
to Judge Washington, President of the Coloniza- 
tion Society, he prepared a paper in which he 



174 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

condensed the merits of that institution within a 
small compass. 

Dr. Clemson, of the class of 1825, in a letter 
to me, giving pleasant memory of his Professor, 
says, " Dr. Wilmer was a bland, cheerful, com- 
panionable man : the students found him very 
affectionate and accessible — his manner inviting 
confidence. He was a very popular pastor. He 
and Mr. Norris had services in the evenings of 
the week which were of a social character, and in 
which the students were invited to exercise their 
gifts. All the Professors were men who honored 
their calling as Ministers and teachers. I revere 
their memory, and revert with sad pleasure to 
those happy days. The opening years of the 
Seminary were very auspicious. They were wise 
and true men who made a choice of such fit in- 
struments for laying the foundation on which has 
been reared so grand a superstructure to the 
glory of God. Dr. Wilmer received and declined 
an invitation to be the first rector of St. John's, 
in Washington, and another to be assistant to 
Bishop Moore in the Monumental Church, in 
Richmond, because his friends thought his pres- 
ence necessary to the Seminary. But in 1826 he 
thought he heard a call from heaven to the Presi- 
dency of William and Mary College, with the care 
of Benton parish, Williamsburg; and he obeyed 



REV. WILLIAM II. WILMER, D.D. 1 75 

the call. His career in Williamsburg, according 
to Rev. Mr. Charles Mann and other contempo- 
raries, was attended with a perfect ovation. In 
the language of some of the old citizens, he took 
possession of the town. He visited from house 
to house, without regard to denominational dis- 
tinctions : and one old resident, still living, says, 
that, during his first winter there, the people 
seemed to forget their customary dancing-parties ; 
and prayer-meetings, and social singing of psalms 
and hymns, took the place of popular amusements. 
His colloquial powers and his wonderful tact were 
illustrated in many social scenes. At a wedding, 
the musicians were about to be summoned to 
inaugurate the dance; but the host would not 
allow them to enter until the Doctor's consent 
was had, and a young lady was commissioned to 
sound him. He replied, "This is not my house; 
but, as I am commanded not to conform to this 
world, I can retire to the hinder part of the ship, 
and go to sleep." — " But, Doctor," she said, 
" when you were a child, did you not love to 
dance ? " He replied, " Yes ; but when I became 
a man, I put away childish things. You, Miss, 
are no longer a child ; and it is high time that 
you should put away childish things, and live 
for more important ends." The conversation con- 
tinued ; and, one by one, the company came within 



176 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

the charmed circle, fascinated by his felicity of 
speech, until the dance was forgotten, and the 
entertainment ended with a word of exhortation, 
singing hymns, and prayer. The remark was 
heard on all sides, " What a delightful evening we 
have had ! " When Dr. Wilmer first went to Wil- 
liamsburg, many of the students were indignant. 
One of them was heard apostrophizing the col- 
lege-walls, and saying, "Old William and Mary, 
thy glory is departed : a long farewell to all thy 
greatness, since a Priest has come to be thy 
governor." This young man being very rude 
to the Doctor, the latter inquired of my informant 
the reason of such conduct. She explained ; and the 
doctor replied, " I will overcome his evil with 
good ; " and with such address did he manage the 
case, that the young man was soon heard to say, 
"What a fine man he is ! so fearless in doing his 
duty, and yet so kind ! " I could multiply these 
illustrations, but time and space forbid. I may 
group them in some other form, and give them to 
the public. Bishop Meade says, in his article on 
"Benton Parish," "Never before had the experi- 
ment of reviving religion, and of converting young 
men, been so earnestly employed." Prayer-meet- 
ings were held twice a week in private houses, 
and the first-fruits of a genuine revival of religion 
in college and town had appeared. 



REV. WILLIAM If. WILMER, D.D. 1 77 

But Providence had other designs. Being about 
to leave Williamsburg on a journey, and being 
anxious to have all the children baptized, he rode 
around the parish in a heavy rain, begging those 
whose children were unbaptized to bring them to 
the Saviour for a blessing, offering, where no fit 
sponsor could be had, to act as suO'.h himself. 
His exposure brought on a chill, which ended in 
death on the 23d of July, 1827. He said while he 
was conscious, " I know that I shall die. The 
Lord's will be done." 

The last thing he said was, when hearing the 
voices of his family praying, and being told on 
inquiry what it was, he said fervently, his counte- 
nance lighting up for a moment, " It is right, 
very right ; " and fell asleep in Jesus. On the 
occasion of his death, the people rose up, as one 
man, to do honor to his memory. He was buried 
beneath the floor of the church ; and members of 
the various denominations united in placing a 
tablet on the wall, and defraying the funeral ex- 
penses. 

Bishop Meade, on behalf of the trustees of the 
Seminary, said, — 

"We have to record the heavy loss sustained 
by the Board in the death of the lamented Wil- 
mer. In this, and every other department of 
usefulness, he ever displayed a judgment, zeal, 



178 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

and activity seldom united in one man. The em- 
blems of mourning, which now designate the 
members of this convention, evince the high es- 
teem in which his services were held by the whole 
Church." 

Bishop Moore said, — 

" It is impossible for me to find language to 
express my sense of loss by the death of our be- 
loved Wilmer. He was one of those who first 
called my attention to this diocese. Of these, but 
one survives ; and he, I trust, will be spared to 
assist you with his counsels when my head shall 
be slumbering in the dust. He was a man of 
business and piety. As a preacher, he was faith- 
ful, energetic, and eloquent. He was the friend 
of evangelical religion, and considered that the 
strictest regard to the order of the Church was 
perfectly compatible with the most animated 
social worship in the houses of his parishioners. 
His private meetings, in his opinion, were the 
nursery of his Church. Like St. Paul, he not 
only taught his people publicly, but went from 
house to house, exhorting them to prepare to 
meet their God. His fidelity met my earnest 
approbation ; and, if it is the wish of the clergy 
to give an account of their stewardship with 
joy, oh, let me entreat them to go and do like- 
wise ! " 



REV. WILLIAM II. WILMER, D.D. 1 79 

Such is an outline of the life of this gifted man 
of God. It is not a full-faced and full-length like- 
ness. I have the ideal and the material, but not 
the time, nor perhaps the skill, to realize it in a 
lifelike picture, — adjusting the lights, and mak- 
ing the mind breathe from the face, and the " elo- 
quent blood mount into the cheek, and almost 
speak." Dr. Wilmer had an uncommon combina- 
tion of physical, intellectual, and moral energy, 
which was the secret of the incredible amount of 
work he did in the parish, in the press, in the pul- 
pit, in letters, and in untiring visiting the sick and 
the poor and the afflicted, fatherless children and 
widows, and pursuing the sinner through all the 
mazes of his madness, until he was caught, 
clothed, and in his right mind. There are fruit- 
ful fields of illustration, at which I have only 
glanced in passing. Among these are his mis- 
sionary excursions through Virginia with Bishops 
Moore and Meade and Allen and McGuire and 
others, in which he was eminently successful in 
rekindling loyalty to the Church, in erecting many 
a family altar, and in warming many a heart that 
had grown cold. He left his mark all along the 
wayside, — the passing traveller, the laborers in 
the fields, and, indeed, all classes, from the old, 
powdered and ruffled aristocracy to the servant 
who held his horse, who received from him a 



l8o REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

smile, a word of counsel, and a blessing. Finally, 
if ever a monument is reared to the restorers of 
the Church in Virginia and the founders of the 
Theological Seminary, the truth of history demands 
that William H. Wilmer should have a high niche 
in it. 

Note. — I am under obligations to Rev. George A. Smith 
and others for some of the interesting illustrations of Dr. 
Wilmer's life. Mr. Smith was a loving pupil of Dr. Wilmer, 
and is one of the few living depositories of valuable Church 
traditions. 

REMINISCENCES OF RIGHT REV. J. P. B. WILMER, 
D.D., L.L.D., LATE BISHOP OF LOUISIANA. 

I cannot refrain from placing in close connec- 
tion with my own reminiscences some few words 
which will serve to convey to my children an idea 
of a good and great Bishop of the Church, who 
bore our family name, and gave lustre to it, not 
only in the United States, but in the Anglican 
Church throughout the world. He took a con- 
spicuous part in the Lambeth Conferences of 
1867 and 1878. 

He deserves to be handed down to posterity in 
a volume rather than in these few pages ; and I 
should have undertaken the grateful task long 
ago, if I had thought myself able to do this glo- 
rious man the justice due to him. I cannot even 






m& 



REMINISCENCES RT. REV. J. P. B. WILMER. l8l 

attempt to give his likeness in miniature, he was 
so unlike all other men I have known, — so strong, 
and yet so gentle ; so grand, and yet so approach- 
able ; so majestic in thought and diction, and yet 
so childlike in his familiar utterances. Bishops 
and peers would crowd to hear his mellifluous and 
golden words, and babes would reach out for shel- 
ter in his arms. 

Men called him, rightly, the Chrysostom of the 
Church in America. 

His father and mine were brothers, and both of 
them clergymen of the Church. His father, Rev. 
Simon Wilmer, was a grand old Roman. We 
grew up together as children, and loved each other 
with something more than a brother's love. My 
heart overflows even now when I think of him. I 
always want to see him. He seems about my bed, 
and about my path, and yet I cannot get speech of 
him. All his peculiarities, his absence of mind, 
his forgetfulness, instead of detracting from his in- 
fluence, imparted a special charm to the whole man : 
we would not have had him changed, — " dear cousin 
Joseph ! " as we all called him. I do not know any 
one whose life, if it could be drawn out in full, 
would so enrich our Church literature. The older 
he grew, the wiser he grew, the more profound 
in his generalizations, the more epigrammatic 
in speech, the stronger for truth, the sterner 



1 82 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

against error, the tenderer to the helpless and 
fallen. 

In his best moods he talked as an inspired ora- 
cle, and with such wealth of language that the 
strength of his thoughts was almost buried in the 
beauty of his imagery, as a strong pillar of stone 
overgrown with flowers. 

He always desired a sudden — he could never 
have experienced an unprepared — death. He 
wanted to spare others the anguish of the parting 
scene. He had his wish. In a moment, in the 
twinkling of an eye, he passed from the toil and 
perplexities and disappointments of life into the rest 
of paradise. I never have realized that he was dead. 
I never think of him as dead, but as being with 
the Prophets and Apostles, some of whom in many 
things he resembled, — Isaiah, St. John, St. Paul, 
and the like. He now holds high converse with 
those blessed ones, I doubt not. What grand 
themes, what lofty speech, what exalted hearts, 
as they cast their crowns down together, and adore 
the Lamb that was slain, and yet ever liveth to 
receive honor and adoration from His redeemed 
people ! 

I give you herewith an extract from the annual 
address which I delivered to the council of my 
diocese at its first session after his death : — 

"The whole Church has been called upon to 



REMINISCENCES RT. REV. J. P. B. WILMER. 1 83 

lament the loss of my near and dearly beloved rel- 
ative, the late Bishop of Louisiana. I cannot trust 
myself to speak at any length of this dear Bishop. 
The loss to me personally is irreparable. I feel as 
if I had lost part of myself. I know not that we had 
a divergent thought. For more than sixty years 
we had grown together in sympathy and affection. 

" To those who knew him well, any description 
would fall far short of the living reality. To 
those who knew him not, a true portraiture would 
seem to be extravagant. 

"There was in him that wonderful dualness of 
character which we find in all complete and fully 
developed natures, and which found its fullest and 
most perfect manifestation in Him 'Who was 
made man.' There was in him a wonderful 
blending of exquisite tenderness and sensibility 
with holy resentment of wrong ; patient endur- 
ance of personal injury, coupled with burning in- 
dignation against injustice to others. This was 
the spirit that flamed in St. John, who, at one 
time, would fain have called down fire from 
heaven to consume those who treated his dear 
Lord with indignity, and at another would calm 
his fevered brow by resting it upon his Lord's 
bosom ; the same spirit that made St. Paul at one 
time willing to be 'accursed for his people,' and, 
at another, forced him to hurl his 'Anathema, 



1 84 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

Maranatha,' against any man who loved not the 
Lord Jesus Christ ; the spirit which reached its 
absolute perfection in our dear Lord, 'Who for 
us men and for our salvation came down from 
heaven and became man ; ' Who, at one time, 
' like a lamb, was dumb before His shearers,' and 
at another, like a lion, drove the profaners of His 
Father's house from the temple with a whip of 
cords. All large and well-rounded natures — 
' teres atque rotundus ' — manifest this dualness of 
nature — the nature both of a man and woman — 
in a spirit which melts over the sufferings of a 
child, and yet can stand undaunted before rulers 
and Presidents, and to their face denounce their 
injustice and wrong. So near akin to holy jeal- 
ousy is an ardent love. 

" I would that some one could be found to give 
us a complete and faithful likeness of the dear 
Bishop of Louisiana. I cannot trust myself to 
attempt it. I make my own the eloquent words 
of one who knew him well, and loved him well, — 
one who had capacity to weigh magnitudes, him- 
self a man of weight (Right Rev. Hugh Miller 
Thompson, D.D., then rector of Trinity Church, 
New Orleans, and now bishop of the Diocese of 
Mississippi). I had urged him to preach the 
bishop's memorial sermon. In reply, he writes, 
' I am here by one drawing — the personal magne- 



RE.V/Ar/SCEsVCES RT. REV. J. P. B. WILMER. 1 85 

tism of a man whose soul was like a calm, deep, 
summer lake ; whose presence stilled the warring 
of my own heart, its unrest and rebellion, and 
even doubt, I confess it ; and in the light of whose 
transfigured face I found God's peace. He is 
gone, and that is gone out of my life which can 
never come again. 

' Another beacon-light blown out above me ; 
Another buoy-bell stilled upon the sea.' 



" The deeps, calm and profound, into which de- 
scended, and from which were reflected, all the 
starry lights of heaven, in that magnificent soul, 
were all I ever saw, and the memory of it all that 
remains unto me now. I don't know whether he 
was 'learned,' or 'able,' or 'eloquent,' or any thing 
else. I only know that his speech to me was like 
the chiming of the bells in the towers of heaven. 
I only know the personal presence of the man put 
me in harmony with the everlasting cadences. I 
want only to sit alone with a memory that ought 
to sanctify my life. The regal glory of that ma- 
jestic face as I looked upon it for the last time in 
the coffin, can never fail from my remembrance. 
He looked, dead in his robes, a Prince of God ; 
and the dead look was but a faint transcript of 
the living presence. I might clasp your hand, 



1 86 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

who knew him, kinsman, brother of the same 
blood, and say nothing but what the heart might 
say, but I could do no more. 

" Our ' memorials ' and our talks about him are 
idle enough, God knows, and, to some moods of 
mine, are even shocking. I cannot talk about him. 
The surface-babble about his absence of mind, 
and personal peculiarities and the rest, are infi- 
nitely disgusting to me. I ask for myself to be 
allowed to bear in my heart, as one of the treas- 
ures, and, God help me, one of the responsibilities, 
of my life, the fact that for three years I knew, 
associated with, and loved this man, crowned on 
earth one of the peerage and senate of heaven." 

I add here some verses written to me by my 
sister, your aunt Marion. They were written at a 
time of deep depression in the State of Louisi- 
ana. A cloud of vultures had come down upon 
the battle-field, to prey upon the dead and nearly 
dying. Strangers held the reins of power, aliens 
sat in the halls of justice, and publicans gathered 
the tithes of cotton. I use plain language because 
I speak of a foul wrong done our people. Think of 
a set of people inimical to us, just out of a terri- 
ble war, leaguing with a dominating race of newly 
emancipated slaves, and exercising all functions, 
legislative, judicial, and executive — a humiliation 
such as in modern times was never inflicted by one 



REMINISCENCES RT. REV. J. P. B. WILMER. 1 8 J 

civilized people upon another. At this time, the 
indignation of the people of Louisiana — for the 
pressure was then chiefly there — had reached such 
a pitch, that the noblest, bravest, and most loyal 
citizens had come to the solemn resolution that 
they might die, but would not longer live in this con- 
dition. I speak of what I know, and it strains the 
heart now to recall it. A single step farther, and 
the streets of New Orleans would have run blood. 
And yet this was the hour when it was proposed 
to me to hold a united "Te Deum service." The 
good friend who made the proposition suggested 
that we were all now under one flag, and a " Te 
Deum service " would be in good form. I replied 
that it was true that we were under one flag, but 
that the flag had a twofold aspect : it had its stars 
and its stripes ; but the stars shone upon him, and 
the stripes alone were still upon us, and that just 
now we might sing "De Profundis," and even 
"Nunc Dimittis," but not "Te Deums," unless 
men could sing the same anthem under stars and 
stripes alike. I recall these things because I am 
writing reminiscences, and want my posterity to 
know the past, and how to interpret the deeds of 
their fathers. 

This state of things which I am now describ- 
ing will show how little the good people of the 
North — and for them I feel a warm admiration 



1 88 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

and regard — knew of the actual state of affairs 
in the South during this period. Their fathers 
groaned under a tax upon tea laid without privi- 
lege of representation. The sons of those men 
should comprehend the intolerable weight that 
the men of the South bore all those years. I 
asked a highly intelligent gentleman in New York 
how he would like his State Legislature to be com- 
posed of one-third of whites — many of them 
were not to the manor born — and two-thirds of 
newly emancipated slaves, and told him that such 
had been the constituency of the South Carolina 
Legislature. He said "it could not be possi- 
ble." The fact is, that a full history has not yet 
appeared ; but we must all appear at the bar of 
judgment in time and eternity. 

At this crisis, the Bishop of Louisiana came 
forward — man of peace as he was. His whole 
soul boiled with a holy indignation — it was holy 
because righteous. He went to Washington City, 
and laid the case before President Grant. A 
word from the Commander of the army would 
have precipitated the collision. He told him so, 
and told him that he (the President) was respon- 
sible before God for the blood that would be shed, 
for the people were oppressed by a tyranny that 
they could not and would not longer stand. That 
famed General never faced a more dauntless eye 



REMINISCENCES RT. REV. J. P. B. WILMER. 1 89 

than that which now looked into his. The Bishop 
laid the whole case before the President, and told 
him of the resolve of his people, and that they had 
yielded as far as human nature could endure. The 
President, as became the man, gave him a hearing, 
told him that he himself was going out of power, 
but would give him letters to his incoming suc- 
cessor. He did so, and the Bishop presented them 
in person to the President-elect at his home in the 
West. I had the details from the Bishop's own 
lips ; and the sequel showed his instrumentality in 
lifting the load from the hearts of his people, and 
bringing to them relief from the tyranny that op- 
pressed them. But all this strain upon heart and 
mind told upon him, as it had done upon Bishop 
Elliott of Georgia. The springs of life gave way 
under the heavy pressure. 

I give these few details in order that you may 
understand some allusions in the lines which fol- 
low, and the withering sarcasms uttered by the 
Bishop himself in the extract following. 

" Louisiana ! matron fair, with bosom bleeding, 
List to the funeral wail, all other woes unheeding ; 
Trail all thy banners low, abase thy queenly head ; 
Think not of traitors now, forget thy blood was shed ; 
Cry low on bended knee, « Our Wilmer's dead ! ' 

Queen of the South ! methinks I see thee kneeling, 
Discrowned in dust and shame, while tears are stealing 



I90 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

From eyes now dulled with grief, and memories of shame • 
Wrought by adopted sons ; but yet there is a name, 
Crowned with celestial light, worthy thy fame. 

Empress of States ! is it not worth the telling ? 
Thou hadst one son — a Prince — whose voice now swelling 
The antiphone of heaven, erst in his manhood's prime, 
Nursing his royal heart at fountains pure, sublime, 
Poured out his kingly soul for thee, like generous wine. 

Mother of many creeds and nations ! thou who barest 
Scars of a conflict on thy regal brow, — thy best and bravest 
Into the quiet grave hath passed forevermore. 
The sweet persuasion of his wondrous tongue no more 
Shall claim a boon for thee : his battle's o'er. 

Louisiana ! Mother ! Queen ! thou heedest not thy losing ; 
The fray is sharp, the conflict lengthens ; and the closing 
Of warrior hosts in battle shock hath stunned thine ears ; 
A fell disease has fouled the sweetness of thy perfumed 

airs, 
But more than this is lost to thee, — a good man's prayers ! 

And thou, O Church of God ! while sadly breathing 
Funereal orisons, receive his mantle, and, his sword un- 
sheathing, 
Fill up the breach, when thou a man dost find 
Refreshed with childhood's grace, a warrior brave, yet 

kind, 
A lion, yet a lamb, a minister to men, a man of mark and 
mind." 

But let the good Bishop speak himself, as he 
did to his church in council assembled. It was 



REMINISCENCES RT. REV. J. P. />'. WILMER. 191 

rarely that he thus spoke, but it was when the 
very stones should have cried out. He was 
speaking of that class of men who had come to 
his State for plunder, who, being disturbed at 
their unholy work, had invoked the aid of the 
General Government, saying that they were in- 
terfered with in their roguery, and that the 
Southern people were not yet subdued. 

The Bishop writes, — 

" If you listen to their complaints, no cause 
ever had so many martyrs. Martyrs ! History 
portrays the victims of persecution, in all ages, 
hiding themselves from public view, and seeking 
refuge in the wilderness, or in dens and caves 
of the earth. It has been reserved for these 
Southern martyrs to be clothed with political 
power, and to command for themselves and their 
adherents the highest offices of profit and dignity. 
Behold them ostracized from their homes to be- 
come representatives in the Legislature ; pilgrims 
and wanderers, traversing their judicial circuits 
quietly and leisurely to administer justice ; driven 
by the sharp edge of persecution to occupy lordly 
mansions, and to sit down at sumptuous tables, 
— men who had never riches, and, some of them, 
never homes, before ! 

" Persecution is not very sharp which is thus 
displayed. Of one thing these people complain, 



192 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

and have a right to complain, — ' that the people 
under their rule are not satisfied.' No, they are 
not satisfied. Bereft of power in the land of 
their inheritance, the voice of their complaint 
cannot be hushed in a moment. Beholding the 
sad breach made in many communities and house- 
holds, the deep sigh will escape from their lips, 
' This is not the necessary result of emancipation.' 

" For this restlessness and loud complaint, they 
are abused for disloyalty, and disobedience to 
authority. ' The South was never more proud and 
defiant before the war,' are the words which fell 
from the lips of ruling statesmen in Congress. 
' Protection ' is demanded from this great wrong ! 
' Protection ! ' — for those in power from those 
out of power. ' Protection ! ' — for scorpions who 
have stolen the dove's nest, that they shall not 
be obliged to hear the plaintive cries of the 
mother bereft of her young. ' Protection ! ' — for 
the soft slumbers of the wolf gorged with his prey, 
that he shall not be disturbed by the bleating of 
the sheep-fold upon the midnight air ! 

" I am bold to make this charge — not against 
the chief magistrate of this nation, who is often 
in our prayers, never in our animadversions ; nor 
against the chief ruler of this State, to whom we 
are equally bound to render honor — but against 
the power which is stronger than both, and which 



REMINISCENCES RT. REV. J. P. B. IVILMER. 1 93 

is holding this State under its inexorable sway, 
I am bold to make this charge. Modern history 
has no example of a power so hard to propitiate, 
perhaps no example of equal patience under such 
misfortunes. 

" Was it a mute prophecy of our coming fate, 
which is expressed in the emblem upon our na- 
tional escutcheon, — the eagle with one talon 
holding forth the olive-branch of peace to all na- 
tions, and with the other grasping the arrows of 
death pointed to its own breast — friendly to all 
others, intolerant and cruel only to its own ? " 

There is nothing in the "Letters of Junius" 
finer and more withering than this sarcasm. 

But read from him on another theme, —the 
coming final retribution. It is a very suggestive 
fact that the words which follow came heated with 
intense faith from the soul of the gentlest and 
sweetest nature, — one who would turn aside from 
crushing a worm. Yet there are no words which 
approach in plainness and terribleness the lan- 
guage used by our Lord Himself. When will 
Christian people turn from the streams fouled by 
their own imaginings, and drink the water of life 
fresh from the spring-head, — " The Truth " ? 

There is no mawkish sentimentality in Nature 
or Revelation, but there are in both these volumes 
life and death. 



194 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

Eut let the good Bishop speak. I quote from 
one of his addresses to his council. 

I met him shortly after this address had been 
published, and said to him, " You write as if you 
had a personal animosity against the Devil." 
Assuming that peculiar look of his when sud- 
denly solemnized, he said, " Yes, I have, sir. He 
is the greatest enemy I have. He has done me a 
world of mischief. I hate him, sir." 

If he so did hate, it was the only being he did 
hate, and that because the Adversary opposed the 
goodness of the good God. There was a grand 
piety in such hate. I wish I could give you all 
his words : they are much needed in this genera- 
tion, which is in a condition of violent re-action 
from puritanic ideas of the Deity. He writes, — 

" So we learn from Revelation to define the 
power of that malicious spirit, whose personality 
involves the fate of the Bible and humanity. To 
dispute this truth is to endanger the whole gospel. 
The fastidious clemency which would cover from 
human sight the terrors of hell and the infernal 
malice of Satan and his legions, had no place in 
His teaching. He knew, as no human teacher 
»can know, what was the mystery of the second 
death, and what dark, infernal agencies crowd the 
avenues which lead to it ; and He made it known 
in words which burn like fire. Three times, in as 



REMINISCENCES RT. REV. J. P. B. WILMER. 1 95 

many consecutive sentences, He spoke to the 
multitude of the torment of damned spirits, — 
'where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
quenched.' 

" To contradict this testimony, or to dilute it, 
is to deprive religion of its august power. Man- 
kind are not to be converted to hate sin by extin- 
guishing its penalties. Hell is not less a reality 
than Heaven, is not less vividly depicted, is not 
less enduring, and eternal in its duration. Reve- 
lation will not be accused of exaggeration in the 
description which is given of the blessedness of 
the heavenly Jerusalem. None are willing to be- 
lieve that its streets of gold, its white robes, its 
applauding hymns of joy, express more than is 
true of the felicity of the saints in light. You 
can no more evacuate hell of its terrors than 
Heaven of its beatitudes. You can no more ex- 
tract the pungency from the torments of the 
damned than you can silence the Seraphim's song. 
There will nothing be left for faith, if you can 
wrest the Scripture to prove that torment does 
not mean torment, and everlasting does not mean 
everlasting." 

Towards the close of the address, he writes, — 
" I have arrived at the close of a painful demon- 
stration, which I did not undertake without re- 
pugnance. If it shocks your sensibilities, do not 



I96 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

think it a subject of congratulation, or any proof 
of superior intelligence, virtue, or refinement. 
Good men are sometimes betrayed into compla- 
cency with flippant allusions to this august mys- 
tery. It may silence this raillery to reflect that 
they are in alliance with the most degraded of 
their race. You are not alone, ye men of wit and 
levity, in dashing from your lips the ' cup of trem- 
bling.' Multitudes are convinced by your argu- 
ments. The murderer, the spoiler of innocence, 
the base miscreant, sunk in ignorance, clotted 
with vice and infamy, — their voices are in unison 
with yours in disowning- the doctrine of eternal 
punishment. Your scepticism is greeted with a 
glad welcome in every retreat of crime, and is only 
strange and foreign to the innocent breast of 
childhood, and to the faith of holy men and mar- 
tyrs in the Church of God. You may refuse to 
believe in hell ; but, with such grim followers, you 
have no cause to be proud of your discernment, 
arching your brow contemptuously upon the igno- 
rance and credulity of believers. . . . 

" I will speak more feelingly. Until this doc- 
trine is received and felt by you, as God reveals 
it in His Word, notwithstanding your professions, 
you are ignorant of the mystery of redemption. 
You are not saved, for you were never lost. The 
blessings of redemption will never be yours until 



REMINISCENCES RT. REV. J. P. B. WILMER. 1 97 

you beseech God to break in pieces your pride, by 
giving you a profound view of your own misery, a 
lively conviction of the hatefulness and malignity 
of sin, and an implacable hatred of yourselves as 
sin has made you, so that your words may be 
true words, and not words of mockery, when you 
pray, ' From everlasting damnation, good Lord, 
deliver us.' 

. . . "There is no danger that the Church of 
which we are members will not grow and increase 
in power with the progress of education in this 
country. There is no danger that a large share 
of the intelligence, refinement, sober morality of 
this land, will not be well represented in our 
sanctuaries. But, is there not danger that the 
independence and fidelity of our priesthood may 
be overawed by the redundance of worldly wealth, 
or the fastidiousness of public taste, enfeebling 
the tone of the pulpit ? Our strength will die out 
when we hear no more the stern expostulations to 
sinners to ' flee from the wrath to come.' 

"This Church has need of iron in its blood. It 
has need of fire in its veins, and majesty in its 
voice to make men feel and tremble, who are now 
buried in carnal sloth and security. It is quite 
clear that the words which go forth from our pul- 
pits on future punishment have not the sober 
reality, or the vivid flash and power, to silence 



I98 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

criticism and rebuke. No man smiles at lightning 
when it leaps from the clouds, and shakes its 
glittering spear above his head. It may not pro- 
duce repentance, but it is too awful for derision. 
May not the fault be in our preaching, rather than 
in the Revelation itself, that the torments of the 
damned evoke words of carping criticism instead 
of solemn awe and trepidation ? We do not stand 
before the people with the awe upon us of this 
great mystery. 

" Come, ye tongues of fire which rested on the 
early messengers of the gospel, and burn this 
awful truth into the minds of ministers and people ! 
He, Who cannot deceive, asserts it, — that the 
unbelievers, the profane, the careless, who are 
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, are 
exposed to the unknown pangs of the second 
death. Calmly we stand in the presence of those 
whose end, disguise it as we may, is eternal exclu- 
sion from the presence of God. 

"The conversion of sinners, the salvation of 
souls, it is no enthusiasm to say, is the great 
work which God has delegated to His people. He 
might have chosen agencies more worthy, but He 
has not done so. The sublime task of spoiling 
Satan of his power, and gathering repentant sin- 
ners from threatened punishment to people the 
abodes of the blessed, is your work and mine ; and, 



REMINISCENCES RT. REV. J. P. B. WILMER. 1 99 

if not done by us, it will be left undone. Heaven 
throws wide its gates to animate our labors ; ran- 
somed saints are waiting to authenticate our faith ; 
imperishable crowns to reward our fidelity. 

"Alas ! for that cold, mocking incredulity, which 
would exchange this sure inheritance of glory, 
pledged to every true believer, for a doubtful and 
precarious fate ; which concerns itself rather to 
snatch a gleam of comfort from God's judgments, 
than to find safety in His promises ; more intent 
to deprive the kingdom of darkness of its woes, 
than to gain an abundant entrance into 'The 
Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, 
Jesus Christ' " 

But I feel that I am not doing justice to the 
good Bishop by taking detached sentences from 
his writings. I merely wanted you to see the 
spirit of the man. I wish I could picture him as 
I see him. Some day I hope that some one will 
be found to gather up his choicest sermons and 
addresses for the enrichment of our Church-litera- 
ture. 

I will only add in conclusion, that, to all his 
other graces and attractions, there was an unspeak- 
able purity and delicate refinement of nature, 
which permeated his whole life, and covered him 
as a garment. I had the sense of talking with a 
refined woman when holding discourse with him. 



200 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

He had it from a child, and by heredity, from his 
father and mother. He had the most delicate 
appreciation of genuine wit and humor, and was 
full of it himself, but turned with loathing from all 
discourse that bordered on the vulgar, as every 
Christian gentleman should do — especially a 
clergyman. He should be unfrocked — I care 
not what his learning and office may be — who in- 
dulges in obscene and vulgar allusions. 

Your cousin was upon one occasion at a large 
dining-party. After the first glass of wine, the 
ladies, as is their wont, left the dining-room for 
the parlor. The gentlemen rose, as a matter of 
course, until the ladies had passed out. As they 
settled themselves to the table again, one of the 
company said, " Now I can give you the anecdote 
which I could not do whilst the ladies were 
present." The bishop looked gravely upon him, 
and said, " Will you be so kind as to consider me 
a lady, sir ? " Ladies might have been safely 
present the rest of that evening. Alas ! alas ! 
that so much greatness and goodness and sweet- 
ness have passed out of this ungodly and impure 
world. 




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THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 201 

THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 
En fHcmariam. 

I don't know that I can give my children a 
more complete idea of a typical Southern gentle- 
man and Christian Bishop, than by adding to 
these reminiscences a portraiture which — in 
1867, shortly after the war of the States — I drew 
of Bishop Elliott of Georgia. 

He was a Southern man, a slaveholder, and a 
Southern patriot of the first water. When men 
of the South realize, as they should, that some 
of the finest specimens of refined Christian char- 
acter are to be found in the ranks of the Republi- 
can party in the North, and when men of the 
North realize, as they should, that men of like 
refined Christian character in the South defended, 
and still do defend, the original right to secede 
under the then existing Constitution, then may 
we indulge the hope that the late conflict of ideas 
and principles may — not be buried and forgotten, 
— for it was too earnest and sincere a conflict to 
be forgotten, — but understood. Then men will 
respect each other, and cease stigmatizing each 
other by opprobrious epithets. I never allow any 
man to call me a "rebel," nor do I allow him to 
speak in my presence, unrebuked, of a war for 
Constitutional right as a " Rebellion." 



202 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

When one sees such men as Bishops Lee of 
Delaware, and Potter of Pennsylvania, on one 
side of a great question, and such men as Bishops 
Meade, Elliott, and Davis, on the opposite side, 
they should cease from "calling people names," 
as the children well designate it, and calmly con- 
sider the great lessons of the hour. One great 
lesson may assuredly be gleaned, — that the whole 
truth is many-sided ; that no one man, however 
great and good, can see all its sides. He alone, 
who is " The Truth," can never err. 

In the memorial sermon which follows, I have 
aimed to view the recent conflict of ideas from 
the stand-point of a Bishop of the Church, born 
and reared in the South, and, therefore, from the 
Southern view of the whole question. We have 
no apologies to make, but feel bound by that 
charity which "rejoiceth in the truth," to throw 
whatever of light may have been vouchsafed to 
us upon a subject which to some minds appears 
dark and mysterious. 

fUUmorfal Sermon. 

" Even so, Fatlier : for so it seemed good in Thy sight" — St. 
Matthew xi. 26. 

Dearly beloved, a great sorrow has brought 
us together this day. It has devolved upon me — 
a stranger to almost all before me — to speak of 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 203 

the life and labors of your dear, departed Bishop. 
But yet, in the church and diocese of my brother 
of Georgia, and surrounded by so many hearts 
which beat quickly at the mention of his name, I 
cannot feel that I, who loved as you loved, and sor- 
rowed when you sorrowed, can be regarded as an 
utter stranger. When it was suddenly announced 
to me that the Bishop of Georgia had died, I felt 
once again as I had felt in childhood, when it was 
told me my father was no more. 

Bishop Elliott was one of the three revered 
Bishops who had set me apart, by the imposition 
of hands, to the office and work of a Bishop. He 
had presided as senior Bishop of the " General 
Council " of the Southern dioceses. His experi- 
ence in the office of a Bishop had extended over 
a quarter of a century, and constituted him, by 
general acclaim, our acknowledged, as he was our 
official, head. He was, too, by birth, talents, and 
culture, our representative man — the impersona- 
tion of many cherished sentiments. All through 
life he had been their champion, and we looked 
to him to be long their vindicator and defender. 

You have invited me here to deliver a dis- 
course commemorative of his life and labors. I 
held the request as sacred, and yet I regretted 
that the duty had not devolved upon another. 
The task requires — besides other gifts to which 



204 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

I make no pretension — a degree of acquaintance 
with the early and inner life of the good Bishop 
which I was not privileged to enjoy. One cannot 
speak of another, as your Bishop should be spoken 
of, unless he can speak "that which he knows, 
and testify to that which he has seen." 

It will be the grateful task of some intimate 
friend of the bishop of Georgia to gather together 
the reminiscences of his boyhood — those precious 
treasures which mothers are wont to lay up in 
their hearts. 

A life so bright as his must needs have had 
an auspicious morning. It will be the duty of 
another to tell the Church of his early struggles, 
when, turning from all the dreams of youth and 
the blandishments of life, he gave himself, a living 
sacrifice, to God, and laid upon His altar the 
homage of his heart and all the wealth of his 
nature. A bright earthly future stood before the 
young aspirant ; fond expectations were cherished 
of his early fame ; but he turned from them all. 
Their light was quenched in that brighter light 
which met him on the way, melted his soul in 
penitence, and resolved for him the great ques- 
tion of life, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to 
do ? " 

An account of what he was in the earlier 
years of his ministry we have now no longer to 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 205 

look for. The Alumni of his Alma Mater have 
given to us in that memoir, adopted and recently 
published by them, the most exquisite and truth- 
ful delineation of the man, the chaplain, and the 
professor. No more affectionate and graceful 
tribute will ever be paid to his memory. 

It is, then, much to be desired that some master- 
hand shall take the different views presented of 
this great man, shall group them, and give to the 
Church a full-size portrait of the first Bishop of 
Georgia. Let this be done by no inferior hand. 
It should be such a portraiture as will go down 
to posterity with those of our other Bishops, that 
our children may learn to know and reverence the 
men who lived and labored in the early days of 
the Church in America. 

I have proposed to myself to-day the grateful 
though melancholy task of speaking of the de- 
ceased as a Bishop of the Church, and, particu- 
larly, in his relations to the great subjects which 
have agitated this country during the few last 
eventful years. 

When consecrated to the episcopate of Georgia, ' 
in 1 84 1, Bishop Elliott, although young in years 
and in office, very soon took high rank among his 
brethren. He possessed in an eminent degree 
many of the qualities which fit men to be leaders 
and commanders among the people. His form, 



206 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

was beautiful and manly, and his whole presence 
majestic and imposing. His manners were re- 
fined and dignified, yet kind and conciliating. 
His intellect was large and highly cultivated, and 
his views elevated and comprehensive. His dis- 
position was ingenuous and affectionate, and cal- 
culated to win upon the affections of others. His 
knowledge of his fellow-men was intuitive and 
profound, and his forbearance with their infirmi- 
ties almost exhaustless. To a disposition ever 
ready to give way in matters of trifling impor- 
tance, he united a strength of conviction and a 
firmness of purpose which would not yield one 
iota of principle ; and when roused to vindicate 
his convictions, he would at times assert them 
with a vehemence that was well-nigh overwhelm- 
ing. So noble were his instincts, that you always 
knew where to find him, — if not agreed with 
others, yet agreeing and consistent with himself. 
A steady, brave, and true man he was, and so pre- 
cious to the Church that he was loved and is 
mourned by all who seek her peace and prosper- 
ity. All these qualities marked him out as a 
leader among men. But yet he could never have 
been the leader of a party, for he sought the truth 
rather than victory. His views were so large that 
they embraced the truths held by both parties of 
the Church ; and he was found acting with the one 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 207 

or the other, indifferently, as in their movements 
they came within the sphere of his convictions. 
He could not have organized a party, but he could 
have led a nation. He could not have drilled a 
.caucus, but he electrified a people. Some of his 
thoughts, to which he knew how to give such 
grand expression, will never be forgotten by the 
men of this generation ; and to this hour our 
hearts thrill at their recollection. His experience 
in the early years of his episcopate differs in no 
material respect from that of other Bishops in new 
dioceses. He found in Georgia a handful of cler- 
gymen, and some few scattered members of the 
Church, — not so many as he left at the time of his 
death in the single congregation of Christ Church, 
Savannah. About seven clergymen and three 
hundred communicants constituted the strength of 
the Church in Georgia, — a State embracing an 
area of fifty-eight thousand square miles. Over 
this extended tract of country he had the oversight 
and jurisdiction. The task was one calculated to 
test the most sanguine temperament. Besides 
the hindrances which all meet with who preach 
the gospel of Christ, — the innate depravity 
and the carnal mind, — he was called upon to 
commend the usages of the Church to a people 
who viewed with impatience, if not with sternness, 
every thing that savored of ceremonial observance. 



208 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

The decent and comely robes of office, the 
gravity and solemnity of the ritual, the due sub- 
ordination and reverent demeanor, were all mat- 
ters of derision to a people accustomed to the free 
and easy mode of extemporaneous performances. 
At this day, when the tastes of people are set- 
ting, perhaps, too indiscriminately in an opposite 
direction, it will be difficult to conceive of the in- 
tense opposition to the usages of the Church at 
the time to which I refer. 

The plan of operations which Bishop Elliott 
proposed to himself, in view of the magnitude of 
the work in hand, was to begin by establishing 
strong central points in every quarter of the dio- 
cese, and in course of time to work out from these 
centres into the surrounding rural districts. In 
addition to his episcopal labors, he took upon him- 
self the charge of a church in Savannah, thus 
adding the cares of a pastor to the laborious work 
of a Bishop — an experiment, I hope, not to be re- 
peated. At an early day, however, he turned his 
attention to the education of the young, and gave 
up his charge at Savannah to take charge of the 
Female Institute at Montpelier. It will be the 
pleasing task of the future biographer to trace out 
in detail the particulars of Bishop Elliott's con- 
nection with the Institute at Montpelier. I make 
the declaration, however, — and his biography will 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 209 

supply the proof, — that his whole course in con- 
nection with the Institute at Montpelier was dic- 
tated by a spirit so noble and self-sacrificing that 
he placed himself above the comprehension of or- 
dinary minds. Men cannot well conceive of the 
existence of motives so much raised above the 
ordinary level. Bishop Elliott took hold of that 
enterprise, and invited upon himself the full re- 
sponsibility of all its load of debt, with much the 
same spirit that one would volunteer to embark 
upon, and take command of, a sinking ship. 
Through what trial and suffering, and clouds of 
misapprehension, he was called to pass, few know, 
— only God, who knoweth all things, and the true 
woman whose heart shared all his solicitudes. He 
was not bound to undertake the responsibility by 
any legal obligation whatsoever. The debts con- 
tracted before his connection with the Institute 
were in no way binding upon him, but he felt that 
the honor of the Church might in some way be in- 
volved ; and he determined, that, sink or swim, he 
would venture all upon it. And all was ventured, 
and all was lost save honor and the consciousness 
of duty attempted. According to the rules of 
arithmetic, it was but a sorry venture : viewed in 
the light of the motives which inspired him, it ap- 
proached the sphere of martyrdom. Had he been 
less self-sacrificing, he would have obtained more 



2IO REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

credit from the world, which always looks for mo- 
tives on its own level. Men could not understand 
how one could risk so much without some motive 
of ultimate gain. When that history shall have 
been written, and the amount of sacrifice made 
known, the people of Georgia will, with new sur- 
prise, understand who and what the Bishop was 
who taught them the great lesson of self-sacrifice. 
In all his intercourse with his fellow-man, he illus- 
trated the idea of honor so delicately drawn by 
the hand of a master : — 

" Say, what is Honor ? 'Tis the finest sense 
Of justice which the human mind can frame, 
Intent each lurking frailty to disclaim, 
And guard the way of life from all offence 
. Suffered or done." 

But the scheme did not turn out as he had 
hoped and willed. Few came to his aid ; and he 
turned, with a heart almost broken with disap- 
pointment, to his remaining duties. It is pleasing 
now to learn that one of his latest acts was to lay 
the corner-stone of a chapel at the Montpelier 
Institute. The rock which supplied the material 
was gathered together by himself some twenty 
years before. It was a source of peculiar pleasure 
to him to witness the revival and prosperity of 
jiis much-loved school ; and his face was seen to 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 211 

beam once more, as of old, with the light of hope 
and pleasure. Thus have we seen the clouds 
lift at sunset, and open to us a glimpse of parting 
day. 

We come now to trace the course of the Bishop 
of Georgia through a stormy period in the history 
of this country. It becomes necessary to refer to 
this period, not with the view of reviving the re- 
membrance of a past conflict, but to rescue from 
unmerited reproach the memory of a Bishop of 
the Church, whose highest aim had ever been to 
set forth peace and quietness among all people, 
and to know nothing among men save Jesus 
Christ and Him crucified. If he ever breathed 
words which savored of strife, it was that a sure 
and lasting peace might thereby be established, 
and good will more certainly prevail. Certain 
fanatical ideas had assumed a dangerous and 
threatening attitude toward the institutions of 
the South. Casting aside the traditions of the 
past, the teachings of statesmen, philosophers, 
and fathers, — to say nothing of the sanctions of 
a solemn political compact, — this pestilent heresy 
dared even to lay its hand upon the Ark of the 
Covenant, and to deny the supreme authority of 
the Word of God in the last appeal. It was this 
moral and religious feature of the movement in 
question which called into active opposition the 



212 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

clergy of the South, and forced them to become 
prominent in the conflict which soon ensued. 
They were called upon, not only to clear them- 
selves from the imputation of a grievous crime, 
but — and this more deeply concerned them — to 
maintain the supremacy of the Word of God, and 
the teachings of universal tradition. Whenever 
there is a conflict of principles, the men will 
always be found who are raised up for the crisis, 
— prophets who discern the coming evil, and men 
of nerve and will to vindicate and defend the 
right. 

Bishop Elliott stood out prominently in his 
sphere, and with all the ardor of his nature (as 
did Bishop Meade of Virginia) addressed himself 
to the discharge of his full duty. At an early 
day he had discerned the signs of the times, and 
foresaw, with extraordinary distinctness, the ulti- 
mate tendencies of the whole movement. It was 
at first a conflict of ideas, and ideas could only be 
met by ideas. The Bishops of the Southern dio- 
ceses, Bishop Polk taking the lead, together with 
divers of the clergy and laity, set themselves to 
the establishment of a seat of learning, to be 
called the " University of the South," which, it 
was hoped, in time, might take rank with the 
universities of the Old World, and become the 
great educator of Southern youth. It was a vital 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 213 

part of the plan, that this University should be 
placed nnder the entire guardianship of this our 
pure branch of the Catholic Church, whose faith- 
ful allegiance to God's Holy Word, and traditional 
reverence for catholic truth, might lend the sanc- 
tit.es of a sound faith to sweeten the sources of 
knowledge, and give a right direction to all its 
power. 

The whole scheme was projected upon a scale 
commensurate with the grandeur of the design 
The good Bishop and his equally zealous coadjV 
tors have been blamed by some for the magnitude 
of their aims, and plan of operations, but, I think 
most unjustly. Why is it that the interests of 
knowledge and religion do not justify the same 
generous expenditure that is lavished upon objects 
of merely material importance ? Millions will be 
subscribed to establish, and even to shorten, lines 
of communication and travel. The projectors of 
such schemes are hailed with ovations as the bene- 
factors of their race. It is, for the most part, only 
when enterprises are started which look to the 
interests of men's hearts and minds, that their 
advocates are regarded as visionary and extrava- 
gant. Is it that the worthy Bishop and his coad- 
jutors were too grand in their aims, or that his 
critics were too grovelling? The truth is, the 
man of whom I speak to-day was a man of large 



214 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

proportions : he was made upon a large scale. 
The traditions of his house and his personal cul- 
ture rendered him dissatisfied with whatever was 
inelegant and incomplete. Whatsoever he did, 
even in matters of comparatively small importance, 
he did with a certain nameless grace and elegance. 
There was in his dress and conversation, and in 
his correspondence, — even to the penmanship and 
paper, — a finish which was quite characteristic. 
This elegance, amounting perhaps to fastidious- 
ness of taste, may have disqualified him for certain 
rough details of duty, but it eminently fitted him 
to take the lead in every thing that was grand and 
beautiful ; and it is the ordination of Providence 
that each man shall serve in his own lot and after 
his own order. Never was an enterprise com- 
menced under better auspices, and attended with 
more encouraging tokens of success, than the 
University of the South. It promised to supply a 
great want, and appealed to the deepest sympa- 
thies of all who could take in the magnitude of 
the interests involved. Bishops Polk and Elliott 
— twin-brothers in life, and in death not long 
divided — gave themselves to the personal task 
of canvassing the Southern States. The South- 
ern people met their appeals for endowments with 
a generous response. The site was procured, the 
grounds were marked out, and the foundation of 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 215 

the building was laid. The Bishop of Vermont 
(Hopkins) — clarum et venerabile nomen — gave 
his invaluable counsel and presence in the prelimi- 
nary work. 

Such was the attitude of things when the storm, 
which had been so long brewing, burst forth, and 
the thick cloud of war settled down upon the land. 
The interests of this cherished University suffered 
peculiar loss. The fortunes which had been 
pledged to its erection and support were swept 
away ; and its munificent patrons are now either 
exiles from their native land, or are struggling 
under unkindly influences for their daily bread. 
Even the foundation-stone, which had been laid in 
faith and prayer, was rudely torn from its bed, and 
despoiled of its sacred treasures. The object of 
this institution was distinct and widely known, — 
to educate in harmony with Southern ideas, — and 
upon its devoted head came the full force of the 
opposing element ; as when the lightning consumes 
the shaft which vainly aims to avert its fury, and 
conduct it harmlessly to the ground. 

Inscrutable is the will of God, that so many of 
man's noblest efforts should seem to be in vain, and 
wickedness and violence be permitted a temporary 
triumph. Impenetrable mysteries are these, which 
baffle the highest reason. Priceless blessings will 
they be, if they teach us to say in faith, " Even 



2l6 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy 
sight." 

Into that mighty conflict which ensued, Bishop 
Elliott threw himself with all the enthusiasm of 
his soul ; and he never disavowed his deeds, and 
never repented of them. 

" Fortuna non mutat genus." 

In this presence, and by the recent grave which 
should enclose, if possible, all painful and unavail- 
ing memories, it does not become me, nor have I 
the desire, to speak of the past in its political and 
sectional aspects. But it does become me, and I 
hold it to be my sacred duty, — a duty which he 
would have faithfully performed for me, — to see 
that no nettles shall be planted on his grave. We 
bury our dead, but they are not forgotten, nor 
shall their tombs be dishonored. 

We can recall — shall we ever forget it ? — 
those memorable discourses of the Bishop, which 
spoke with trumpet-tongue through this land, re- 
viving the hearts of the fearful and desponding, 
reminding the people of God's wonders in the 
olden time, telling them how that "out of the 
eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came 
forth sweetness." Those glowing prophecies, 
conceived in as sublime faith as ever inspired the 
seers of old, were not fulfilled in the form in which 
they appeared to his own rapt vision. Far-seeing 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 217 

as man may be, God sees farther still. Great and 
far-reaching as may be the plans of man, they fall 
short of the Divine plan. God alone is great and 
wise and good. Poor, narrow, short-sighted man ! 

— he lives in his little world, of which he and his 
loved ideas constitute the centre. Is it wonderful, 
then, that man, the wisest man, should be doomed 
to perpetual mistakes and disappointments ? We 
propose for ourselves : God disposes for others 
also. We plan for a part : He arranges for the 
whole. The universe is the theatre of the Divine 
plan, and eternity alone shall give scope to the 
fulfilment of the vision. 

Truth shall ultimately prevail, and wrong shall 
be put down, and justice shall be vindicated, but 

— and here is our common mistake — not accord- 
ing to our desires and judgments and purposes. 
Not in the forms which we have fashioned for 
them, but in more glorious and abiding beauty 
shall our buried hopes attain unto their resurrec- 
tion. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, 
but that body which we sow is not that body that 
shall be; but God giveth it a body as it hath 
pleased Him, and to every seed his own body. It 
may be " sown in dishonor, it shall be raised in 
glory." 

These are the revelations from Heaven which 
come to us as we stand by the graves of our loved 



2l8 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

ones, and bid us look up from the dust and dis- 
honor, as it goes to earth and corruption, to those 
glorious forms in which we shall greet them on 
the morning of their resurrection. 

It has been charged upon Bishop Elliott and 
upon others, that they have at times over-stepped 
the limits of their calling, and have brought into 
the pulpit, themes other than those which are 
given them in trust by their Master. It may be 
so. I am not here to speak of my brother, or any 
other sinful man, as faultless. One of the curses 
of this day and generation is the fulsome and in- 
discriminate eulogy which is poured forth in obit- 
uaries and funeral discourses. No wonder that 
the world looks upon our humbling confessions of 
guilt and unworthiness as cant and hypocrisy, 
when so much of perfection is claimed for the 
living and the dead. Bishops are fashioned out 
of men. Earthen vessels are they, to whom a 
heavenly treasure is intrusted. More than human 
would they have been, if under that tremendous 
pressure of feeling, the recollection of which, even 
now at times, causes a tightening of the chest, their 
thoughts had not sometimes overflowed in strong 
and resistless expression. The good Bishop was 
not more than human. Indeed, it was his human- 
ness that constituted his peculiar charm, and at- 
tracted to him all our hearts. 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 219 

There is a something, less than human, which 
will never offend after this manner. There is a 
cold-blooded indifference, which cannot be roused 
in holy indignation, and it may pass for great 
moderation ; there is a time-serving timidity which 
shrinks from the consequences of a deed of daring, 
and it may pass for great prudence ; there is a 
calculating policy which gauges all questions by 
the standard of profit and loss, and it will pass for 
great sagacity. Men of this stamp can go through 
the fire unharmed, because there is no material in 
them to be kindled. These are the less than 
human. . 

Bishop Elliott was not a man of a timid and 
calculating nature. He had been reared in the 
school of honor, whose teachings, when subli- 
mated by the grace of God, impel men to dare all 
consequences in the assertion and maintenance of 
the right. He bad not been his father's son, he 
had been recreant to his whole race, if, in a ques- 
tion of sentiment and principle, he had paused to 
calculate the consequences by any standard of 
earthly profit. It is this spirit — travestied in 
the code of worldly honor — which inspired the 
noble army of martyrs, and made them to rejoice 
that they were counted worthy to suffer shame 
and death for a cause which they honored and 
espoused. 



220 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

When men such as these fall into error, it is 
after their own manner, and in the line of their 
own nature. They are incapable of meanness, 
cowardice, and treachery ; but when their indigna- 
tion is aroused, they are prone to overflow the 
bounds of moderation. Errors of this kind are 
wont to be found in connection with generous 
and impassioned temperaments. These are the 
infirmities which God knoweth, and, as a Father, 
pitieth ; and, blessed be His holy name, when re- 
pented of, are, with sins of a deeper dye, washed 
away in the most precious blood of Christ, and 
remembered no more forever. 

But there is something more that must be said 
in this connection. It happens, oftentimes, that 
questions of morals and religion are so closely 
interwoven with political ideas and events, that 
it is very difficult, if not quite impossible, to 
handle the one without touching the other. Es- 
pecially is this the case when moral ideas seize 
upon the reins of power, and become aggressive 
and coercive. 

Bishop Elliott had imbibed strong and distinct 
political ideas. They were a portion of his in- 
heritance ; they were the traditions of his race 
and of his house ; they mingled in his nurture, 
and he held them with all the strength of his 
strong nature. Of these I shall not further 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 221 

speak : they belong not to this occasion, nor to 
the purpose of this discourse. But there was an 
element mingled with the recent conflict, not 
only of a political and social character, but one 
involving a great question of morals, and possess- 
ing a deep philanthropic and religious interest. 

In these Southern States, there was to be found 
a race of people distinct in color and in social 
position from the ruling race. This amiable and 
docile people grew up with us in our houses, were 
our playmates in childhood, and became, in after- 
life, our trusted friends and dependants. 

Into the secret of that tender bond, which 
united the two races, a stranger cannot enter. 
This people became gradually Christianized. 
Their habits of subordination to their earthly 
master inclined them to an easier submission to 
the will of God. Their obedience, once inwrought, 
naturally went forth to every object of reverence 
and authority. It would be difficult for any one 
to recall the instance of an infidel among them, 
and their submission to the will of Heaven was 
proverbial. All this sprang naturally from 

" The ingrained instinct of old reverence, 
The holy habit of obediency." 

As the influences of Christianity continued to 
extend among the masters, the relation between 



222 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

them and their servants became less and less 
mercenary, and more and more patriarchal. It 
may be safely affirmed that there lived not upon 
the face of the earth a class of people, occupying 
the social position of our slaves, who were better 
cared for, and better remunerated for their labor. 
The Southern system had solved the most diffi- 
cult question in political economy. To feed and 
clothe well the laborer ; to take care of the chil- 
dren, the aged, and the sick ; to prevent pauper- 
ism ; to diminish blindness, muteness, and lunacy, 
those sure indications of physical deterioration ; 
and to insure the steady growth of population, — 
has been a task too great for the political econo- 
mist. It will not need to take the testimony of 
Southern people upon this point. The dominant 
party in this country do now declare — whether 
rightly or not, I am not now considering — that 
this race, just now emancipated, is not only en- 
titled to all the privileges, but capable of dis- 
charging all the duties, of American citizenship ; 
and yet the ancestors of this people, a few years 
ago, were heathen savages in the wilds of Africa. 
What Christian mission, in the same space of 
time, has accomplished the same results for any 
heathen nation, that have been wrought out for 
this people in their connection with Southern 
influence, at Southern firesides ? 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 22$ 

Bishop Elliott was the type of the best South- 
ern men in all his relations to this unhappy 
race. Understanding, as none but a Southern 
man brought up with them can understand, their 
childlike helplessness and dependence, and believ- 
ing that the maintenance of existing relations 
was necessary to their continued existence and 
well-being as a people, for time and eternity, he 
took his stand by their side, and strove with all 
his might to avert what he deemed their ruin, 
and became the impassioned advocate of their 
cause. He who cannot understand what I am 
now saying, cannot comprehend the man of whom 
I am speaking. 

I do not desire to be understood as now dis- 
cussing the merits of this vexed question in any 
form. It is practically settled, and it is to the 
interest of all that it should not be disturbed. 
But I am here to see that the memory of a great 
and good Bishop is vindicated, and that his promi- 
nence, in what appeared to him the cause of 
humanity and religion, should never be con- 
founded with the notoriety of those men who dis- 
cuss party politics when they should preach Jesus 
Christ. I do proclaim, and will forever maintain, 
that the motives of Bishop Elliott and of kindred 
spirits, in their efforts to perpetuate, at least for 
a while, the relation of master and servant, were 



224 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

noble, patriotic, unselfish, and Christian. He 
foresaw, or thought he foresaw, — which is the 
same thing, so far as the motive is involved, — 
that the sudden disruption of the bond between 
him and the people he loved and cared for, would 
surely tend to their gradual deterioration and to 
their ultimate extinction. He felt that it would 
be a frightful wrong ; and he rose up like a giant 
in all his strength, and said, virtually, "This must 
not be ; and, God being my helper, this shall not 
be." He may have been mistaken, for it is human 
to err. If he was, it was his infirmity, and not 
his fault. His whole life presents a clear record 
in regard to that people to whom he was bound 
by a thousand ties of affection, and by the ten- 
derest remembrances of mutual service. 

He cared for them in every way, and sought to 
bring to them all the elevating and consoling 
truths of the Holy Gospel. His labors were 
richly blessed. He saw them gathering by hun- 
dreds under the wings of the Church, and becom- 
ing partakers with him of the same altar ; and his 
affectionate nature was gladdened by the specta- 
cle. When the downfall came, he sorrowed most 
of all for the poor, unhappy beings, who, suddenly 
and by an unlooked-for providence, had been 
bereft of their wonted guardianship, and con- 
signed to what seemed a hopeless orphanage. 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 225 

Even then he ceased not to love and care for 
them. Hear how he speaks in his last address 
to his sons of the clergy : " Love must go along 
with it " (the work of the Church for them) ; 
" gratitude for their past services ; memories of 
our infancy and childhood ; thoughts of the glory 
which will accrue to us, when we shall lead these 
people, once our servants, but not now as ser- 
vants, but above servants, as brethren beloved, 
and present them to Christ as our offering of 
repentance for what we may have failed to fulfil 
in the past of our trust." 

But Bishop Elliott's position was peculiarly 
prominent in the ecclesiastical movements which 
took place upon the outbreak of civil war. Hap- 
pily, under the protection of God's good provi- 
dence, our branch of the Church in the United 
States had kept herself aloof from the agitation 
of all sectional and political questions ; and her 
legislation, the natural outgrowth of her spirit, 
had been uniformly church-like and catholic. 
The earthly alloy of political ideas, which had 
disintegrated the various denominational bodies, 
had never entered into her legislative halls. The 
General Convention, which met in Richmond in 
1859, w iU l° n £ b e remembered for the Christian 
charity and harmony which marked all its deliber- 
ations. It was composed of clergymen and lay- 



226 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

men from every section of the country ; and yet 
when the first overt act of fanatical aggression 
took place on the northern boundary of the State 
of Virginia, in whose capital they were assembled, 
the event, which shook the whole country to its 
centre, did not stir a ripple upon the surface of 
debate. The whole movement, therefore, of the 
Southern dioceses, looking to a separate organiza- 
tion, was the result of a sheer physical necessity, 
as if an abyss had suddenly yawned between the 
two sections. We mark the recognition of this 
fact in the letter of the Bishops, which summoned 
the Southern dioceses to meet, by their deputies, 
in the city of Montgomery. This letter, signed 
by Bishops Polk and Elliott, the senior bishops of 
the then seceded States, distinctly states that 
" this necessity (for a convention of the Southern 
dioceses) does not arise out of any dissension 
which has occurred within the Church itself, not 
out of any dissatisfaction with either the doctrine 
or discipline of the Church. We rejoice to record 
the fact that we are to-day, as Churchmen, as truly 
brethren as we have ever been, and that no deed 
has been done, nor word uttered, which leaves a 
single wound rankling in the breast. We are 
still one in faith, in purpose, and in hope ; but 
political changes, forced upon us by a stern neces- 
sity, have occurred, which have placed our dio- 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 22*J 

ceses in a position requiring consultation as to 
our future ecclesiastical relations." 

In pursuance of this call, deputies from some 
of the Southern dioceses met together, first at 
Montgomery, held an adjourned session in the en- 
suing autumn at Columbia, and there framed the 
constitution and canons which subsequently be- 
came the laws of the " General Council of the 
Church in the Southern States." In all the pre- 
liminary proceedings, Bishop Elliott took a leading 
part, and showed himself a master of assemblies. 
It is pleasing now to recall the exquisite tact with 
which he guided the deliberations of the house to 
the end proposed ; how patient he was of opposi- 
tion, how respectful he was to the opinions of 
others, how easy to compromise in matters indif- 
ferent, and how unbending and intensely in ear- 
nest when asserting the truth and right. It is 
difficult to conceive any thing finer than his whole 
bearing. It has left upon the mind the impres- 
sion that is left by a beautiful dream, — alas, too 
soon vanished ! When we look at the results- of 
this legislation, we see but little to mark the dif- 
ference between the constitution and canons of 
the General Convention and those of the General 
Council. But this was the important end attained, 
— that there was so little of change effected, 
where the opportunity for change was so bound- 



228 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

less. The result is given by Bishop Elliott him- 
self, with characteristic felicity, in the Pastoral of 
the General Council. " The Constitution is the 
same as that of the Church from which we have 
been providentially separated, save that we have 
introduced into it a germ of expansion which was 
wanting in the old Constitution." "The Canon 
law is the same moderate, just, and equal body of 
ecclesiastical law by which the Church has been 
governed on this continent since her reception 
from the Church of England of the treasures of 
an Apostolic ministry and a liturgical form of wor- 
ship." Upon the death of Bishop Meade, — that 
true and brave old Bishop, whose very name is a 
tower of strength, — Bishop Elliott became the 
senior Bishop of the "General Council." The 
Pastoral set forth at the first session of that body 
was the production of his pen, and (in the lan- 
guage of "The Church Journal") "in elevation of 
tone, in dignity, force, and beauty of style, has 
been surpassed by no Pastoral ever issued in this 
country." The spirit which pervaded this Coun- 
cil was the self-same spirit which presided in the 
councils of the blessed Apostles, and they who 
were permitted to take part in its deliberations 
will ever fondly recur to its sessions as privileged 
beyond the ordinary assemblies of men. There 
was a Bishop at its head unto whom utterance had 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 229 

been given ; and he sent forth to the world those 
words of peace and good will which then sounded 
so sweet amid the din of war, and are now so 
precious to us, who are gathering together these 
mementos of his worth and excellence. In his 
own glowing words, "Our first duty, therefore, as 
the children of God, is to send forth from this 
Council our greetings of love to the Churches of 
God all the world over. We greet them in Christ, 
and rejoice that they are partakers with us of all 
grace which is treasured up in Him. We lay down 
to-day before the altar of the Crucified all our bur- 
dens of sin, and offer our prayers for the Church 
Militant upon earth. Whatever may be their 
aspect towards us politically, we cannot forget 
that they rejoice with us in the one Lord, the one 
faith, the one baptism, the one God and Father of 
all ; and we wish them God-speed in all the sacred 
ministries of the Church. Nothing but love is 
consonant with the exhibition of Christ's love 
which is manifested to His Church ; and any note 
of man's bitterness, except against sin, would be a 
sound of discord mingling with the sweet harmo- 
nies of earth and Heaven. We rejoice in this 
golden cord, which binds us together in Christ our 
Redeemer ; and like the ladder which Jacob saw 
in a vision, with the angels of God ascending and 
descending upon it, may it ever be the channel 



230 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

along which shall flash the Christian greetings of 
the children of God ! " 

The General Council no longer has an exist- 
ence. It had fully accomplished its temporary 
mission in holding compactly together for a 
while the Southern dioceses, and in affording 
scope for their mutual helpfulness. When the 
results of war had fused the contending sections 
into one nationality, and after the General Con- 
vention had met and renewedly illustrated its tra- 
ditional spirit, the General Council came together, 
released the several dioceses from their pledges of 
union, declared them free in good faith to renew 
old relations, and adjourned with the general un- 
derstanding that there were no longer any suffi- 
cient grounds upon which a Churchman should 
desire to maintain a separate organization. I 
doubt if there is in history a more striking exem- 
plification of the working of the true Church spirit 
than is to be found in the records of the two 
ecclesiastical bodies which met at Philadelphia 
and Augusta in the autumn of 1865. 

I dwell at this time upon this period in the his- 
tory of the Church, because the life of Bishop 
Elliott occupies a conspicuous place in the history 
of the whole movement, and because there are 
many who have misconceived, and in some in- 
stances have misrepresented, the motives by 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 23 1 

which he was actuated. He was one of the two 
Bishops who called together the Southern dioceses 
in council ; and he it was, who, at a later period, 
set forth most emphatically the terms deemed 
essential to re-union. The General Council had 
performed certain acts, and those acts, he said, 
must be ratified. They were so ratified. There 
were no concessions made on either side, and none 
were asked. There was no occasion for the dis- 
play of magnanimity, in the ordinary acceptation 
of the term. The course pursued by both parties 
was sensible, right, and churchlike. The wound, 
if there was any, healed, as in all healthy bodies 
it will, by first intention. I have spoken with 
confidence of Bishop Elliott's course and motives 
during this period of his life, because I know 
whereof I affirm, and because it was during this 
period that I first made his intimate acquaintance. 
We felt and thought and acted together. To- 
gether we resolved to meet our brethren in Gen- 
eral Council, and to be governed as circumstances 
might direct — if it should seem best — to undo 
our work with the same deliberation with which it 
had been done, and with what we deemed to be a 
due regard to the interests of all concerned. And 
I may mention here, as illustrative of the Bishop's 
character, that when, having all things in readi- 
ness to declare the accession of his diocese to the 



232 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

General Convention, he found that the sister dio* 
cese of Alabama was suffering from a military- 
intrusion, he took no step until advised that the 
intrusion had been withdrawn, and that the dio- 
cese was free to act in concert with his own. So 
true to nobleness were all his instincts. Some 
zealous and overheated minds have expressed sur- 
prise that Bishop Elliott and some others should 
have consented to a re-union of the Church. But 
they neither comprehended the man nor the spirit 
of the Church. It had been an easy task for him 
to have led a separate party, and he might thereby 
have gained a transient popularity. But he had 
higher aims. He loved the Church of God ; ay, 
above his chief joy, he sought her peace and pros- 
perity ; and with that sweep of vision and that 
largeness of soul with which he was so richly en- 
dowed, he saw that the prestige and strength of 
the Church could only be preserved by her re- 
union ; and at the proper time he spoke the 
emphatic word which practically settled the ques- 
tion. I doubt much if the moment of his highest 
exaltation as a man and a Churchman was not the 
moment, when, repressing all of personal feeling, 
and yet yielding no conviction, and compromising 
no principle, he stood forth and said virtually, "The 
Church must close up her ranks. We are one in 
faith and hope — there must be no division in the 
body." 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 233 

In referring to this action of Bishop Elliott, a 
writer in " The Southern Churchman " (Rev. Dr. 
Slaughter) most truthfully and eloquently said, — 
" The whole South joins in the dirge over one 
of her most splendid products — her champion 
and her child, every pulse of whose large heart 
did beat in sympathy with her in her weal and 
woe. The whole Church should honor the mem- 
ory of the man who wore the mitre so becomingly ; 
'who was so pure in his vocation that his vir- 
tues did plead his cause' like angels trumpet- 
tongued ; the man who, though born and ripened 
under a Southern sun, with all the fervor of a 
Southern man's affections, instincts, and preju- 
dices, at a critical moment hushed them into 
silence, and came forward, and laid them upon the 
altar of a bleeding Church to heal her wounds." 

I met with Bishop Elliott for the last time at 
the General Council in the autumn of 1865. 
Great changes had taken place. His fondest 
earthly hopes had been crushed, and his most san- 
guine predictions had been unfulfilled. He bore 
it all as became him. Strength and greatness 
never seem so attractive as when chastened by 
heavy affliction. Sorrow gives that softness of 
coloring which the painter is wont to use in his 
last touches when toning down the picture. There 
was the same winning smile, the same loving rec- 



234 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

ognition, but withal, there was an undertone of 
indescribable tenderness which bespoke a great 
sorrow encountered and endured. The thought 
prominent in his mind was duty to the Church ; 
and he it was, who, in his closing address to the 
Council, — never written, and, alas ! now no longer 
to be recalled, — gave expression to it. " We 
should ask" — thus ran the tenor of his discourse 
— " not what will gratify our pride, and please the 
world, but what the interests of the Church de- 
mand, and what Christ would have us to do." 
This selfsame spirit pervaded the action of the 
General Convention, which had closed its session a 
few weeks before at Philadelphia. 

The blessed Spirit of God, the Holy Com- 
forter, in answer to the prayers of the faithful, 
was moving upon the heart of the Church, — deep 
calling unto deep under the impulse of His mys- 
terious power, — and the waters flowed together 
as do the waves of the sea which a passing vessel 
has for the moment parted asunder. 

There is nothing upon this earth so beautiful as 
the spectacle of an heroic soul struggling man- 
fully with adversity, yielding at last to manifest 
destiny, and bowing to the divine will in unques- 
tioning submission. There are faithful men in 
these latter days, who have illustrated their faith 
by sacrifices greater even than that which the pa- 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 235 

triarch Abraham was preparing to make upon the 
mount. There are some things dearer to a man 
than the life of his. child, and when sacrificed at 
the divine command, through faith, are most pre- 
cious offerings in the sight of Heaven. 

It was one of my first thoughts, when I real- 
ized that all was over, " How does Bishop Elliott 
bear all this?" so long and so thoroughly identi- 
fied had he been with that cause for which we 
were hoping and struggling. He bore it all most 
beautifully, as the permissive will of God without 
which not even a sparrow falleth to the ground. 
The faith which had waxed so strong in the time 
of action, rose to sublimity in the hour of submis- 
sion. Most worthily did his demeanor illustrate 
the motto upon his official seal : " In utrumque 
paratus agere et pati." Mysterious indeed to all 
of us were the providences of that hour, but what 
room for faith, if sight and reason had not alto- 
gether failed ! It should be our delight to lose 
ourselves in the depths of the divine mysteries, 
because in the darkness and cloud God dwelleth, 
and there His children find Him. Thanks be to 
God that we have a Father so wise that we can- 
not always comprehend His ways, and so good that 
we can never distrust His love. 

" Here bring your wounded hearts ; here tell your anguish; 
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal." 



236 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

Not by the power of reason do we solve divine 
mysteries, and turn all our sadness into rejoicing, 
but by the application of faith. "Even so, 
Father : for so it seemed good in Thy sight." 

I little thought when I parted from the bishop, 
that I should see his face no more. His appear- 
ance gave promise of long-continued life. Time 
and suffering seemed to have made no serious 
impression on his vigorous frame, and there was 
no apparent abatement of his mental powers. 
But one is never the same after passing under a 
great pressure. The spring of life, when not 
broken, is always weakened by the strain. The 
grief which is denied outward expression, will flow 
back upon the heart, and in time will break it. 
He went about his work quietly and submissively, 
with the earnest purpose to do what yet remained 
to be done, but it was under circumstances of 
peculiar painfulness to a spirit like his. The rude 
tempest of war had swept through the bounds of 
his diocese, from the mountains to the seashore. 
He could not travel without seeing the marks of 
its violence, not only upon the devastated fields 
and burned cities, but upon dismantled and dese- 
crated churches, "the abomination of desolation 
standing where it ought not." From every quar- 
ter of his diocese, from vacated churches and im- 
poverished people, there came to him the cry for 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 237 

aid and counsel ; and there was everywhere, too, 

to be heard that saddest lament of all, the cry of 

the orphan and the widow. To what straits the 

Southern Bishops have been driven in attempting 

to heed these cries, God and themselves only 

know. Is it any wonder that the pressure has 

proved too great for brain and heart ? 

It seems to us as if the death of our beloved 

Bishop had been premature, and that the tale of 

life had been cut short before it was all told, and 

a pity, too, when it was so beautiful in the telling. 

But we must learn to measure life, not so much 

by its length of continuance, as by the amount of 

work accomplished. Men who work hard will 

compress into threescore years what might have 

been, with less intensity, extended over the allotted 

threescore years and ten. It was enough that 

his Master was satisfied with his day's work, and 

that he was called to rest before the sun went 

down. ,.,, . , 

" No ominous hour 

Knocks at his door with tidings of mishap ; 

Far off is he, above desire and fear ; 

No more submitted to the change and chance 

Of the unsteady planets. Oh, 'tis well 

With him ! but who knows what the coming hour, 

Veiled in thick darkness, brings for us ? " 

Amid all his trials he had enjoyed a large share 
of life's blessings. He had been permitted to 



238 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

preach the unsearchable riches of the great Re- 
deemer in Whom he trusted. He had received 
honor from all honorable men. Earth, and Heaven 
upon earth, confers no greater honor upon man 
than to clothe him with the office of an ambassador 
for Christ in the highest ministry of the Church. 
He had lived to see his diocese grow up under his 
administration, and becoming strong in all the 
great centres, where men most do congregate. 
He was spared to see his children grown up 
around him, and the promises of God fulfilled 
towards them. This life had lost many of its at- 
tractions, and the gladdening dreams of youth had 
all fled from him. A new order of affairs, alien 
from his sympathies, was in progress around him. 
The present condition of things was dark, and in 
the future no rift in the clouds was discernible. 
The little flocks of his servants, which he had 
tended with a shepherd's care, had been scattered, 
and came not, as of old, to his familiar call. The 
companions of his childhood had left him, and the 
trusted friends of his early manhood had nearly 
all preceded him, and in the place of departed 
spirits were waiting to welcome him. Life was 
not what it had been to him — the same divine 
mission indeed, the same call to duty, the same 
struggle ; but it was a lone struggle. Meade, 
Cobbs, Otey, Polk, Rutledge, — all had left him ; 






THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 239 

and the heart of a loving man feels sadly the need 
of loving hearts around him. Is it to be wondered 
at that he was weary, and ready, like a tired child, 
to lie down and rest ? In his own words, delivered 
at the burial of his brother Cobbs, the late bishop 
of Alabama, he exclaimed, — and what a grateful 
significance his words have for us now ! — " Oh, the 
sweetness of that word ' rest ! ' To cease from all 
the weariness of life ; to be done with its cares, 
its perplexities, its sorrows, its miseries ; to have 
fought the good fight of faith, and ended the strug- 
gle ; to have finished the work which God has 
given us to do, and now to lie down and be at 
peace." 

All ended as he would have ordered it. Before 
the years had come wherein men find no pleas- 
ure ; while yet the keepers of the house trembled 
not, nor those that looked out of the windows 
were darkened ; in the full possession of all his 
powers ; in the bosom of his family ; spared the 
lingering sickness and the painful parting, — he 
gave up the ghost, and was gathered to his 
fathers. Wife and children gather around the 
closing scene : hosts of friends crowd the pro- 
cession, and even the stranger is borne unwit- 
tingly along by the swelling throng. The loving 
arms of beloved servants, whom he had so long 
and lovingly borne upon his heart, bore his pre- 



24O REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

cious remains to their resting-place. Amid the 
scenes so dear to him, by the banks of the gentle 
Savannah, and under the skies which had looked 
down upon his nativity ; upon the holy festival of 
Christmas Day, amid anthems of Glory to God, 
and Peace upon Earth, — he was laid in his place 
of rest. It is very sad to us who are left behind, 
but we have no tears of bitterness to shed for 
ourselves when the gain to him is so incalculable. 
" Even so, Father : for so it seemed good in Thy 
sight." And for all Thy goodness and mercy to 
this our friend, brother, father, " We praise Thee, 
we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, 
we give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory, O 
Lord God, Heavenly King, God the Father 
Almighty ! " 

Since writing the above, and preparing it for 
the press, I have heard an incident so characteris- 
tic of Bishop Elliott's nobleness of soul, that I 
cannot refrain from recording and perpetuating it 
in these " Reminiscences." 

It has passed into history that the chief man 
of the "Confederacy" was captured, and im- 
prisoned in the Fortress of Monroe to await trial 
for treason. That prison-life of Mr. Davis, with 
all its needless horrors and humiliations, has left 
a foul blot upon the history of that day. Those 



THE LATE BISHOP ELLIOTT OF GEORGIA. 



241 



months of solitary imprisonment; his feeble 
body loaded with chains; that eye of the jailer 
ever fixed upon the prisoner's every motion, even 
in his devotions to the Most High, -what a pic- 
ture of wanton insult ! We, Southern people, are 
a forgiving people, for every true Southern man 
felt himself insulted in the person of his repre- 
sentative head. , A man can be imprisoned, tried 
convicted, and executed, and yet not insulted! 
The treatment of Jefferson Davis was a foul 
wrong and we all felt it as a personal dishonor. 
While the unhappy, but unsubdued, captive sat 
there m his lonely cell and chains, -for a long 
time forbidden to see even his priest, - Bishop 
Elliott importuned the authorities to be allowed to 
share the imprisonment of his chief -volunteered 
to partake of all its horrors. Glorious Elliott 1 
such men redeem the character of the human 
race. Nor was the good Bishop alone in this 
sentiment. The vast Fortress of Monroe was 
all too small to enclose the crowd which would 
have sprung forward to emulate his spirit. If such 
men be traitors, I can only say,— 

" Sit mea anima cum illis." 

We of the South have not yet been schooled 
to enroll John Brown among " The noble army of 
martyrs." The roll of the South records the 



242 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

names of quite other men. With these we have 
lived, and with these we hope to share eternity. 
For one, I have no higher aspiration ; for my 
posterity I ask of Heaven no richer boon. 

REMINISCENCES OF THE RIGHT REV. NICHOLAS 
HAMNER COBBS, D.D., 

The First Bishop of the Diocese of Alabama, the "George Herbert" of 
the Church in America, 

This volume would be most incomplete unless 
it contained some remembrance of one who had 
been my intimate friend for a long period of my 
life, and also my immediate predecessor in the 
bishopric of Alabama. 

I hardly know how to describe Bishop Cobbs ; 
for he was a man, in some respects, altogether 
unlike all other men whom I have known in char- 
acter, and in the exercise of his holy office. We 
have had many distinguished, learned, and elo- 
quent men in the American Episcopate, but only 
one Bishop Cobbs. He was the very impersona- 
tion of some of the most striking qualities of a 
Bishop. He looked the representative of his Lord 
in the sweetness, gentleness, and humility of his 
bearing towards his fellow-men. It required the 
exercise of no great imaginative power to picture 
him leaning on his Master's breast, and finding 
all his strength and solace there. He looked as if 







A, k, 6*4t, 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER COBBS, D.D. 243 

one of the Apostles whom Christ had chosen to 
follow Him in His solitary sojourn upon earth. I 
remember now a remark of a good Methodist 
brother, who had had some worrying controver- 
sies about the "Apostolical Succession." I intro- 
duced him to Bishop Cobbs on one occasion ; and 
when the Bishop left us, my good brother turned 
to me, and said, " I have no doubts on my mind 
now, for I have seen the ' Apostolic Succession.' " 
Above all other men was he an humble man : 
alone of all other men, he embodied the spirit of 
meekness. I have mingled much with my fellow- 
men, and have observed them with much atten- 
tion ; and I record here what I have often 
remarked, " that Bishop Cobbs was the only real 
meek man I ever knew." I have seen earnest 
men, pious men, self-sacrificing men, very humble 

men ; but I have only seen one very meek man, 

a man who could take a slight or offence from 
his fellow-men without exhibiting passion or re- 
sentment. This is the rarest gem in the diadem 
of saints, and it shone serenely on his brow. 

I remember just now a very characteristic inci- 
dent, illustrative of his spirit of meekness. The 
Bishop, then Mr. Cobbs, was, at the time referred 
to, the chaplain of the University of Virginia, — 
the first chaplain that had ever ministered within 
its walls. It will be remembered that the Univer- 



244 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

sity of Virginia, at its inception, did not officially 
recognize Christianity as one of the forces which 
should enter into the work of education. Indeed, 
there was an atmosphere of infidelity about the 
"Old Dominion" at that period, which poisoned 
even the sources of knowledge. The University 
was equipped by the diligence of Jefferson with 
,a11 that was most advanced in the schools of 
learning, but Christ was not acknowledged there in 
the presence of any ambassador. Under a very 
peculiar train of events, which are well known, 
and need not to be repeated here, Mr. Cobbs was 
chosen to be the first chaplain. His modest and 
retiring manner, his low estimate of his own abil- 
ity, in which no one agreed with him, all seemed 
to unfit him to cope with the spirit that held sway 
at the University. But how little can men judge 
of the spiritual forces which a man of God, im- 
bued with the love of Christ, can bring to bear 
upon the hearts of his fellow-men. His very 
presence disarmed all opposition, and his simple 
telling of the wondrous old story of the love of 
Christ won many hearts for his dear Master. 

But to the incident. He was dining out on one 
occasion in the vicinity of the University. At 
the table was one of the students, who amused 
himself, and thought he was amusing others, by 
jokes upon the clerical profession. Mr. Cobbs said 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER COBBS, D.D. 245 

not a word, and showed no sign of displeasure. 
As the company were about to rise from the 
table, he' went up to the young man, and, taking 
his hand in a friendly manner, said, " My young 
friend, I am greatly obliged to you for your ad- 
monitions. We of the clergy seldom have the 
privilege of having our faults told us so plainly, 
and I trust that I shall profit by your discourse." 
You may imagine the discomfiture of the youth. 
He yielded him his homage on the spot, and 
became, as did all the students and professors, his 
devoted friend and admirer. 

Is not this one of the manifold ways in which 
the beatitude to "the meek" is fulfilled — "they 
shall inherit the earth " ? What is there on the 
earth so precious as the love and esteem of the 
good ? what accumulation of earthly treasure can 
be placed in the scale with the wealth of affection 
which the good man lays up ? Indeed, I know not 
which one of the beatitudes the good Bishop did 
not have a share in. He was "pure in heart;" 
he was a "peacemaker;" he "hungered and 
thirsted after righteousness." What fulness of 
joy and blessedness await the dear man on that day 
when his Lord from His throne shall issue His 
invitation, " Come, ye blessed of My Father ! " 
His humility was as conspicuous as his meekness. 
He loved to preach on the text, " Be ye clothed 



246 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

with humility." After having announced his 
text, he might have sat down, for the people 
had the sermon exemplified in full view before 
them. 

Mr. Cobbs was succeeded in the chaplaincy by 
a man of rare talent for oratory. I asked one 
of the professors how he liked the new chaplain. 
His reply was, "Mr. Cobbs's presence in the pul- 
pit is more eloquent to me than all the flashings 
of oratory." 

His sagacity was very remarkable, his intuitive 
knowledge of men was profound, and his mode of 
dealing with all varieties of character inimitable. 
We were thrown much together in the early part 
of my ministry, and we often held "associations" 
together. When I had a particularly hard case to 
deal with, I always invoked his aid — never, I 
think, without success. I loved to watch the play 
of his conversation, like that of a skilful angler. It 
was a beautiful study. Christ had indeed made him 
a "fisher of men." As to the dear women, they 
ran into his open net. Ah ! how many hearts in 
old Bedford County, the place of his birth and 
earliest ministry ; in Petersburg, where he gathered 
such a harvest of souls ; in Alabama, where he car- 
ried warmth and light into every nook and corner 
of the State, — how many hearts in all these fields 
of labor do still beat with love and gratitude at 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER CO BBS, D.D. 247 

the sound of his name ! Such men never die, and 
thus, too, "inherit the earth." 

His administration of his diocese was, of course, 
in perfect keeping with the man : he was the ser- 
vant of servants, as was his dear Master, and 
ready to lay down — as indeed he did — his life for 
the flock. He gathered to him by elective affin- 
ity, a ministry like-minded with himself, and made 
the diocese of Alabama — what I trust it will ever 
be — a haven of repose for those who seek rest 
from the strife of faction and party. 

He was a Churchman all through and through. 
It seemed to saturate him : it breathed in his 
breath, it spoke in his speech, it lived in his life. 
He loved his "mother," as he was wont to call her, 
and he spoke of her with a filial unction which can- 
not be described. The dear Bishop Lay, whose 
voice, alas ! is no longer heard, and whose pen 
writes no more, gathered his inspiration at the feet 
of Bishop Cobbs. Their mutual love and admira^ 
tion are indescribable ; and, oh ! often have I jour- 
neyed with them, and enjoyed their discourse and 
mutual love. 1 

With all this high appreciation of the Church, 
— and he loved the Church because she was 
Christ's, — he had a kind word and a kind thought 

1 After the death of Bishop Cobbs, Bishop Lay published in the 
Church Review a highly appreciative sketch of hiin. 



248 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

for all that named the Sacred Name. Indeed, he 
seemed incapable of aught but love. 

My own relations to him were peculiar, and our 
intimacy very close, notwithstanding our very dif- 
ferent temperaments. He often told me that the 
first man who came to him after his ordination as 
deacon, and threw his arms around him, and bade 
him be of good cheer, was my father, and that his 
heart went forth to every one that bore the name 
of " Wilmer." It was in part for this reason, I 
suppose, that I was called to take his place in 
every position that he ever held in the Church. 
(I only succeeded him in Bedford and Alabama.) 
Thus have I ever been in his path, and have 
learned to know his footprints. They have ever 
pointed in the direction of duty. God grant me 
some of the grace that guided and sanctified his 
life. 

His death was marked by a striking coinci- 
dence. He loved his country, as became his loyal 
heart. He saw the gathering of the storm of war 
at his very door. He had loved the Union with a 
deep devotion, as did all men of his class ; and the 
idea of its dissolution was more than his frame, 
enfeebled by long disease, could bear. At the 
booming of the cannon which announced the sep- 
aration of his State from the Union, his gentle 
spirit took its flight. His tender heart could not 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER COBBS, D.D. 249 

have borne the horrors of that dreadful war, and 
he was taken in out of the storm. 

I would have dwelt longer upon the public life 
and administration of Bishop Cobbs, if I had the 
time and materials at hand. Most happily, the 
Rev. Dr. Cushman has preserved the memorial 
sermon ("The Israelite without Guile"), which, by 
request of the diocese of Alabama, he preached 
after the Bishop's death. The selection of the 
preacher for the occasion was a very wise one ; for 
the Doctor was fitted by culture, and capability of 
appreciation, and by his ardent affection, to give us 
the likeness of the first Bishop of Alabama. I 
give the following extracts, and end this reminis- 
cence with the Bishop's "parting words." 

EXTRACTS FROM THE SERMON OP THE REV. DR. CUSHMAN. 

"When was a subject more worthy of a tribute 
than the man of God whose life and death we 
now commemorate, the Israelite without guile ? 
when one to whom could better be applied the 
testimonies of inspiration to the perfection of the 
saints ? Did Abraham talk with God on the plains 
of Mamre, did Enoch walk with Him ? What was 
their life, but like his, a life of holiness and 
prayer ? Did the dying Jacob gather himself up 
in his bed, and, leaning upon the top of his staff, 
bless his children ? Suffer us, a moment, to un- 






250 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

veil the sacred secrets of yonder chamber of death. 
There lay the aged father and Bishop, his frame 
wasted, his strength exhausted, by months of 
painful suffering and disease. Already had he 
entered into the dark valley and shadow of death. 
But he could not die without once more beholding 
the children of his love : with them, and with the 
wife of his youth, he must break the sacramental 
bread. They are gathered from far, — his daugh- 
ters, his sons, his sons-in-law, and their wives 
with them. In a kind providence, no living child 
was missing. Together they knelt around that 
sacred bed, together they all partook of that last 
sacrament, — all save one, whose tender years pre- 
cluded ; and when, leaning upon his elbow, the 
aged father raised his attenuated hand, and in- 
voked the blessing of Heaven, the peace of God, 
which passeth all understanding, fell sweetly 
upon his own soul. He realized the truth of the 
promise that the righteous should not be forsaken, 
and that his seed should not in vain beg their 
bread, — the bread of heaven ; and, with gushing 
tears of thankful joy, he could exclaim, 'Behold, 
Lord, here am I, and those that thou hast given 
me.' It was a scene which might well remind us 
of dying patriarchs. Not afar off did he resemble 
those elder saints. Like David, a man after God's 
own heart ; like Daniel, a man of prayer ; like 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER COBBS, D.D. 25 1 

Nathaniel, an Israelite without guile ; like St. 
John, full of tenderness and love ; like St. Ste- 
phen, a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, 
and of faith, he might well have feared the woe, 
denounced by our Lord when all men speak well 
of thee, had not, as in the case of the prophet, 
occasion been taken to find fault with him con- 
cerning the Lord his God. He contended val- 
iantly for Christ, and won the universal meed of 
praise. He contended no less for the Church, 
the body of Christ ; and he, who never had in his 
heart a thought of party enmity and strife, in- 
curred partisan censure and reproach. 

" He was a man of God from his youth ; and the 
whole course of his life did but develop and ma- 
ture those natural germs of character which were 
made perfect by grace. As in the sainted Gris- 
wold, it was difficult to say in him where nature 
ended and where grace began, so happily were 
they combined : and if he was thought ever to set 
an undue value upon the baptism and catechetical 
instruction of the Church, it was because he felt 
himself so much their debtor ; because, like Tim- 
othy, by his mother and grandmother he had 
been early trained in wisdom's ways. The. seeds 
were thus implanted which in after-years pro- 
duced so abundant a harvest of good to himself 
and the Church. Impressions were thus made 



252 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

which no adverse influences ever impaired or de- 
stroyed. It was to these two facts, — his baptism 
and his catechetical training, — that he himself 
attributed, under God, his life as a Christian min- 
ister and bishop. 

" Bishop Cobbs was never a man to make a dis- 
play of his reading and learning. His ambition 
never ran in that direction ; but to his friends, to 
those who were admitted to his familiar converse, 
and to whom he brought out treasures new and 
old, he appeared, as he truly was, not only a 
Christian bishop, but a scholar and a learned 
divine. His zeal and industry atoned for his want 
of early opportunities ; and in the classics, in 
English theology, in Church history, and in pa- 
tristic lore, he was no mean proficient. Never 
man rated higher the value of learning, no one 
labored more to raise its drooping standard in our 
land. If, in these later days, he was the earnest 
and unfailing advocate of our own great Univer- 
sity of the South, it was because he saw in it the 
realization of his hopes and dreams ; because 
there he believed the twin-sisters, Religion and 
Learning, were to walk hand in hand, until they 
attained such fulness of stature as the world had 
not yet seen. 

" It was amid such toil and such recreation, a 






RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER COBBS, D.D. 2$$ 

teacher by day, and a painful student by night, 
that Bishop Cobbs passed his earliest years. 
Soon he found pressing upon him the great ques- 
tion of his vocation in life. From early youth, 
influences alien to the Church had surrounded 
him. The Church herself, in her depressed con- 
dition, cast down, but not destroyed, could offer 
but little inducement to a worldly mind : for am- 
bition, she had no glittering prize. To share her 
lot, to take part in her ministry, was to share her 
poverty and reproach. To lead such a forlorn 
hope required no little heroism. The question, 
however, was soon settled. If there was ever a 
doubt in his mind, which we neither affirm nor 
deny, it was determined without long debate for 
the faith in which he had been baptized, for the 
Church in Virginia, which, however fallen and 
decayed, was still the Church of Christ. In 1824 
we find him at Staunton, applying to be admitted 
to the holy order of deacons. He had yet to be 
confirmed, and partake of his first communion : 
but once before, we believe, had he witnessed the 
service of the Church. Such, however, was his 
spotless character, such the testimonials he bore 
from neighbors and friends, such the necessities 
of the Church in Virginia, — the very application 
was the best proof of the sincere and self-denying 
piety of the applicant, — that all technical consid- 



254 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

erations were overruled. He was ordained deacon 
by the Right Rev. Bishop Moore, in Trinity Church, 
Staunton, May 23, 1824, and the same day was 
confirmed, and for the first time communed. 

" It was during these laborious years of paro- 
chial life that those conservative and sound views 
of the Church, in the profession of which Bishop 
Cobbs afterwards lived and died, were developed 
and matured. He had imbibed them from the 
fountain-head, from the great exponents of the 
English Church, and from the Word of God. 
The adverse influences which surrounded him 
had, it may be, for a while kept them in abeyance ; 
and it was not until the experience of parish life 
had taught him that the truest practice can only 
be combined with the truest theory, that they 
assumed their normal place in his mind and heart. 
To preach Christ was his first duty, as it was his 
chief pleasure ; to preach the Church was a duty 
no less. They were parts of one whole ; and the 
question did not, could not, rise in his mind which 
of the two he should forbear to press. His office 
was to proclaim the whole counsel of God. It 
was not only duty : even in Bedford, he believed 
it policy. In the field of labor in which God 
had placed him, amid the diversities of heresy 
and schism, with multiplying sects on every 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER CO BBS, D.D. 255 

side, necessity constrained him to set forth plainly 
and distinctly the Divine origin and Apostolic 
claims of 'the sect everywhere spoken against.' 

"The trumpet, we think, gives no uncertain 
sound. These views so announced, his views 
upon the sacraments, and especially upon baptis- 
mal regeneration, in the belief of which he stood 
side by side with Bishop Moore ; his thorough re- 
ception of the doctrine of the Apostolic Succession ; 
his later attempts at Petersburg to revive the long 
disused holy days of the Church ; his acknowledged 
teachings in the pulpit and in private, — furnish all 
the proof we need, that, as a Churchman, he was 
an Israelite without guile. Bishop Cobbs was 
never one to stir up controversy and strife. In 
his unaffected humility, in his gentleness, and love 
of peace, he never, unnecessarily, obtruded ad- 
verse opinions upon the attention of others. He 
was not a man of positive assertions ; he rather 
hinted than expressed a difference ; he dwelt in 
social converse upon points of harmony and union. 
To some, he might seem to waver and to yield, 
when no rock was firmer. It was so in all things. 
In all his intercourse with his clergy, in his Epis- 
copal addresses, in converse with a vain student, 
an aged servant, a brother Bishop, the same char- 
acteristic appears, the same Christian modesty 



256 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

spake from his tongue. Dogmatism was no ele- 
ment of his character. When other men affirmed, 
he perhaps would speak by interrogation ; but his 
question implied no less certainty than their sol- 
emn oaths. He was not arrogant, opinionative, 
positive ; but he was firm and decided. Let prin- 
ciple be involved, and no appliances could move 
him. We repeat, the trumpet gave no uncertain 
sound. The views of the Church, and of her 
doctrines, learned by painful study in the Word of 
God and the Book of Prayer, and confirmed by 
the experience of a parish priest, which had grad- 
ually and surely matured in the earlier years of 
his ministry, were the rule of his life, as they 
were among his chief consolations in death. 

"But the time had come when Bishop Cobbs 
must bid farewell to his first, perhaps his best- 
loved, field of labor. He must turn his back upon 
those Peaks of Otter, in whose shadow, as he was 
born, so he had hoped to live and die. There he 
had passed his early years, there he had labored, 
and seen the fruits of his labor : where once were 
none, a hundred communicants now kneeled. He 
had twined himself around the hearts of that peo- 
ple with cords of love that no change of time or 
circumstance could sunder. With spontaneous 
affection, they loved him in word and deed ; and 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER CO BBS, D.D. 257 

a farm of two thousand dollars' value was, in 
part, their thank-offering for the sacrifices he had 
made. His very presence brought to them com- 
fort and joy and protection, and they felt safer for 
seeing the man of God pass daily by. It was the 
Divine will they must give him up, but it could 
only be with streaming eyes and breaking hearts. 
Their love could know no diminution. Other 
men might occupy : it was still his parish. To 
them always the Bishop of Alabama was the 
Priest of Bedford. What a scene was that when 
he visited the home of his nativity, a Bishop in 
the Church of God ; when he laid his hands, first 
upon the eldest daughter of his heart and love, 
now, we trust, a saint in heaven, and then upon 
the aged father, who had waited thus long for the 
consolation of Israel. It was a time of mingled 
sorrow and joy. The young men wept ; the strong 
men bowed themselves ; the mothers and daugh- 
ters in Israel would have gladly given themselves 
to him, who had sacrificed so much for them. 
Our own eyes fill with tears, the pen falls from 
our hand ; and we can only say, ' If he was much 
worthy, Bedford loved much.' 

" Bishop Cobbs had served for fifteen years in 
the General Convention of the Church as one of 
the clerical deputies from the Diocese of Virginia. 



258 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

In 1 841, members of the Church, emigrants to 
Texas, then an independent republic, had applied 
to the Church in the United States to send them 
a Bishop. It was a post of very great responsi- 
bility and importance. The House of Bishops, 
zealous ever for the extension of the Church, were 
forward to comply with the request ; and Bishop 
Cobbs was by them nominated as a suitable per- 
son to enter upon that great field. From motives 
of policy and expediency, the House of Clerical 
and Lay Deputies declined to unite in the prelimi- 
nary action of the House of Bishops ; and, to his 
great relief and joy, the name of Bishop Cobbs 
was not sent down to them for confirmation. 
Pending that matter, he underwent much trouble 
and distress lest the stern mandate of duty should 
call him, in the acceptance of that post, to the 
.sacrifice, as it would then have been, of his native 
land. His nomination was in every way honor- 
able ; but such was his shrinking modesty and 
self-abnegation, that to members of his own im- 
mediate family, singular as it may seem, the 
knowledge of it has only come from other sources 
since his death. He was never the trumpeter of 
his own fame. 

"It was in 1843 tnat Mr. — now, by creation of 
Hobart College, Geneva, N.Y., Dr. — Cobbs took 
charge of St. Paul's Church, Cincinnati. He had 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER CO BBS, D.D. 2$g 

hardly entered upon his duties there, when the 
Church in Indiana hastened to ratify the indorse- 
ment of the House of Bishops of his suitableness 
to be a Bishop in the Church of Christ. He was 
elected to that office by the clergy, and only a 
doubt of his acceptance of the position prevented 
the concurrence of the laity. Thus, happily, he 
was reserved for us ; and in May, 1844, at Greens- 
borough, the Church in Alabama, by unanimous 
vote of her clergy and laity, invited Dr. Cobbs to 
her episcopate. 

" He accepted the providential call, was conse- 
crated in Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1844, and in the 
month of November had already entered upon 
his work, his great venture of faith. 

" We notice first and foremost the extraordinary 
hold Bishop Cobbs had upon the affections of his 
people ; the wonderful union and harmony which 
characterized all orders and degrees of men under 
his jurisdiction. As he went through his diocese, 
everywhere preaching the gospel, as well by his 
presence as his words, he won his way to all 
hearts. He intuitively inspired, not only respect, 
but confidence and love, as well out of as in the 
Church. ' That is a good man, a sincere Chris- 
tian man,' was the one, universal voice. In his 



260 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

presence, before his lowly piety, wickedness itself 
stood abashed ; and those who feared not God, nor 
regarded man, respected him. Without compro- 
mising a principle, he acquired the good will of 
all ; and when he approached, contentions for 
modes of faith died away in silence. It was ever 
in his mind that his mission was, if possible, to 
live peaceably with all men. Ministers of an alien 
faith were his friends in life ; they stood at his 
bedside to learn how a Christian Bishop died ; they 
paid to his lifeless remains the last offices of 
friendship and love. Look to his writings, listen 
to his words, and he spared not to proclaim what 
he believed to be the counsel of God ; but he 
made no enemies, either to the truth or to himself, 
because he spake the truth in love. 

" But it was in the Church that our Bishop found 
the strongest, and to him the dearest, proofs of 
love. In the sixteen years of his episcopate, con- 
fidence in him never for a moment wavered, but 
grew stronger and stronger until the day of his 
death. His diocese stood around him as one man 
and one heart. Never was a bishop who had a 
stronger hold upon his clergy and laity, — it was 
a revered father and loving children, — never was 
a diocese more happily united. His will was ours : 
his slightest wish was to us imperative as law. 
His rule, which we never felt, was absolute, at the 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER COBBS, D.D. 2 6l 

very time we sighed, that he would not rule. 
This, perhaps, was one of the secrets of his great 
influence : what he would not seek was freely 
given to him. Most remarkable was the proof of 
our perfect trust in him, -a proof without prece- 
dent in the whole history of our confederate 
Church, -when two years ago, by a formal vote 
of our Convention, as unanimous as his election 
was, the entire control of our Diocesan Missions 
was confided to his hands. It was a confidence 
which the Church of the diocese nobly indorsed 
the same year by doubling its contributions It 
was then we passed the formal vote ; but that vote 
was only the recorded expression of what had 
been, from the beginning, our practice. It gave 
him no powers which he had not, by general ap- 
probation and consent, always exercised. 

"Bishop Cobbs, in accepting the Episcopate of 
Alabama, did not underrate the difficulties he 
would have to encounter and overcome He 
counted the cost before he began to build, and 
realized that it was a venture of faith. In large 
portions of the diocese, the Church was altogether 
unknown ; in other parts, the strongest and most 
unfounded prejudices existed against her. Her 
doctrines were not understood : her practice was 
misrepresented. She was, they said, a cold, for- 



262 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

mal, dead Church, having but a name to live, with 
the form of godliness, but not the power. That 
ignorance was to be enlightened : that prejudice 
must be lived down, and overcome. Before the 
Church in Alabama could have any real growth, 
or acquire any real strength, it must prove its 
claims to the respect of men. It must show by 
living example, as well as by precept, that it was 
possible for a Christian man to live within its pale. 
Upon that one point, all her future depended. 
How admirably Bishop Cobbs worked out that 
theorem, — how, in his own person, he demon- 
strated that truth, and so laid the foundation of 
future success, — we all know. It was for him to 
prepare the soil, and sow the seed : to him we owe 
the harvest already reaped, and shall owe, in great 
part at least, that which is still to come. Like 
the Apostle, 'in journeyings often,' in protracted 
absence from home, in wearisome waiting upon 
our water-courses, in heat and cold, over roads to 
which even courtesy could scarce give the name, 
by labors that might well have exhausted more 
rugged men, he penetrated into every part of his 
large diocese, and carried with him the gospel and 
the Church. Says Bishop Elliott, ' He was one of 
the holiest men I ever met." He so wrought that 
all Alabama met him, and indorsed the truth ; and 
under its influence the diocese grew and flourished. 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER COBBS, D.D. 263 

" Bishop Cobbs was not what Latimer would 
call 'an unpreaching prelate.' He magnified that 
part of his office. It was to him an ordinance of 
the gospel, and he was never so much at home as 
when in the pulpit. After a weary journey, it 
was rest to him, at night, to proclaim to a hand- 
ful, or to a gathered multitude, the unsearchable 
riches of Christ. His preaching was plain, simple, 
and direct. He sought no aid of ornament, he 
indulged in no flights of fancy, he made no vain dis- 
play of learning. He preached Christ, not himself ; 
and not himself preached Christ, but the Church 
through him. No one knew this distinction better 
than he, who was often heard to say, that the 
preacher in the Church of Christ was no mere 
man of thirty, or threescore, but a man hoary 
with eighteen hundred years. With a plain, Saxon 
style, which was all his own, — a style toned down 
by severe discipline from that ornate exuberance 
of metaphor and ornament which characterized 
his earlier productions, when poetry and song 
guided his pen, and warmed his heart, — with a 
peculiar delivery, he never failed to arrest atten- 
tion, and to reach the heart. There have been 
few preachers more effective. If not an orator in 
the popular sense, he had one of the best elements 
of oratory. His sermons were realities : he be- 
lieved what he said. Every word and tone and 



264 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

gesture bore the impress of sincerity. His ser- 
mons were brief, confined generally to a single 
point ; and at their close, — it is the truest test of 
merit, — his hearers thought not of the speaker, 
but of themselves and their sins. They turned 
away, ever with the purpose of repentance and 
amendment in their hearts, and with its expres- 
sion upon their lips. He captivated, not their in- 
tellects, but their hearts : and out of the stores of 
his large experience the Christian was edified and 
instructed, and the sinful persuaded, and eager 
multitudes hung upon his words ; for he spake to 
them with the eloquence of sincerity and truth, 
and with the power of God. 

"Bishop Cobbs was not a man ambitious of 
authorship : he shrank from observation with a 
woman's timidity. Apart from his episcopal ad- 
dresses, his appearances before the public were 
most rare :. some seven occasional sermons make 
up the tale. In nearly every such case, his words 
sank deep into the Christian heart, and in the 
form of tracts have been widely circulated, some 
of them in many editions. They were plain, 
pointed, practical, the fruit of ripened wisdom 
and long experience, and of that rare quality, 
common sense, which he possessed in an eminent 
degree. The same remark will apply to his ad- 
dresses to his convention. There was not a word 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER COBBS, D.D. 26$ 

in them for display, no circumlocution, no sound- 
ing phrase. He seldom travelled beyond the 
record : he spake for Alabama, not for the world. 
A brief detail of his official acts, — brief, the 
better to conceal his immense amount of work, — 
a few plain, practical suggestions touching the 
interests of the diocese, and the analysis is com- 
plete. There was no exordium, no peroration, 
very seldom such a digression, as when his heart 
broke out into that eloquent tribute to the mem- 
ory of that 'great-hearted shepherd,' Bishop 
Doane. But upon what concerned his diocese, 
what would promote its interests, we had line 
upon line : here he never wearied. His warnings 
to his clergy against pseudo-catholicity, against 
the errors of Rome and Geneva, against all inno- 
vations upon the ancient usages of the Church ; 
his exhortations to combine in our preaching 
' Evangelic truth with Apostolic order,' to set 
forth, side by side, as cardinal truths, the doctrine 
of justification by faith, and the importance of the 
sacraments and offices of the Church — the body 
and soul of Christ's religion, as he termed them 
— to proclaim everywhere, and at all times, Christ 
and His Church, — these still ring in our ears : 
may their influence never die in our hearts ! Our 
Diocesan Missions, the subject of his last as of 
his first address to us ; our Diocesan School ; 



266 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

the Religious Instruction of Servants, which 
had been the life-long subject of his interest; 
the Catechetical Training of Children ; the Widow 
and Orphan's Society ; the Endowment of the 
Episcopate ; the due Support of the Clergy, — 
these were the themes upon which he dwelt, 
themes to him ever new, because ever interesting, 
because upon them our growth as a Church and 
diocese depended. 

"No notice of Bishop Cobbs could do him jus- 
tice that omitted the fact that he was a man given 
to hospitality. In him, it was a virtue in excess. 
There was ever a seat at his table for the stranger 
and the friend : in his house, guests were never 
wanting. It was thronged from all parts of the 
diocese, we might say from all parts of the land. 
He lived to make others happy, and was never 
himself so happy as when his bounteous board 
was crowded with many friends. With his genial 
spirit and kindly heart, — for in his religion, 
there was nothing forbidding or morose, — he 
entered into their feelings, and especially of the 
young, and made, as well as shared, their pleas- 
ure ; and a day at the Bishop's was always a day 
of joy. 

" His charity was as unbounded as his hospital- 
ity. It was not in his heart to resist any appeal of 
distress ; and with the poor he would have shared 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMMER COBBS, D.D. 267 

his last penny, and his last morsel of bread. 
There was but one measure to his generosity, — 
the limit of his means and power. While the 
barrel of meal wasted not, and the cruse of oil 
did not fail, whole families of the poor lived upon 
his bounty ; and if his resources were like to be 
exhausted, he would quietly turn away the word 
of caution from a friend with 'Jehovah Jireh,' 
— the Lord will provide. 

"The success of the administration of his dio- 
cese by Bishop Cobbs was answerable to his great 
qualities. He found it weak, a Church with no 
popular prestige, an unsettled and rapidly chan- 
ging clergy. In the Convention that elected him, 
but eight clerical names appear on the roll as en- 
titled to a vote and seat. He left it united, vigor- 
ous, and growing rapidly in numbers and in 
strength. An endowed episcopate ; a Widow 
and Orphan's Society, whose vested funds will 
compare favorably with those of like societies in 
the older and wealthier dioceses ; a flourishing 
Diocesan School ; the parishes more than doubled ; 
the clergy and communicants quadrupled ; the alms 
and oblations many-fold increased ; a vigorous sys- 
tem of missions, — these are facts that make his 
monument, and speak his praise. He was not 
only a good, but a successful, Bishop, even as the 
world counts success, by actual results. He was 



268 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

however, a pioneer : his time and labor were spent 
in laying broad and deep foundations, and not 
upon the visible walls of the temple. How he 
labored, what success he achieved, is hidden still 
in the womb of time ; but as long as the Church 
in Alabama shall have any existence, she will reap 
the fruit of the toils and prayers of her first-loved 
Bishop, and her children's children shall rise up 
to call him blessed." 

THE FABEWELL MESSAGE TO THE CLERGY OP THE PROTESTANT 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE DIOCESE OF ALABAMA. 

"First of all, give to each and every one of 
them, individually, my love and my blessing; 
and tell them, that as during my whole episco- 
pate it has been my earnest purpose and con- 
stant endeavor to be, and to show myself to be, 
the personal friend and helper of every clergy- 
man in my diocese, so now I have them all still 
in my heart. 

" As to my religious belief, tell them, that, by 
God's grace, I shall die in the faith in which I 
have lived, and which I have endeavored to 
preach. I have been called a 'Puseyite,' a 'High 
Churchman,' and the like. Tell them I dislike 
party names, and loathe party lines in the Church 
of Christ ; but next to Christ, who is the Head, 
I love the Church, which is His Body, with 



RT. REV. NICHOLAS HAMNER COBBS, D.D. 269 

my whole heart. I have attached, and do still 
attach, great importance to her offices and sacra- 
ments ; and I believe in 'Baptismal Regenera- 
tion,' and 'Apostolic Succession,' as firmly as 
I do any of the fundamental doctrines of the 
Gospel ; but I am not conscious that I have 
ever preached any thing but ' Jesus Christ 
and Him Crucified ; ' and now, in this solemn 
hour, reviewing my ministry, I cannot recall a 
single sentiment, either in my sermons or my 
pastoral addresses, which I desire erased or 
changed. 

"As to my hope of justification with God, 
tell them that 'This is a faithful saying, and 
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
into the world to save sinners' I have been 
called ' a good man,' ' a kind man,' from my youth 
up. I do not say whether justly or otherwise. 
I have tried to show kindness and sympathy to 
all, especially to the poor, to the afflicted, and 
to the bereaved ; and I am certain that I do 
not now bear malice, or cherish unkind feelings, 
towards anybody on the face of the whole earth. 
But if I have done any kind deeds or any good 
works, I am sure I make no merit of them, but 
cast them all behind my back, and nauseate them, 
and spit upon them ' as filthy rags ; ' and, count- 
ing myself 'an unprofitable servant,' I look only 



270 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

' unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith,' 
and say, 

' In my hand no price I bring, 
Simply to Thy cross I cling.' 

" As to my present state of mind, tell them I 
heartily thank God for this sickness. I know- 
not yet what is to be the issue. I have no will 
nor wish in the matter. 

' Nor life nor death I crave,' 

but simply to do, to bear, to suffer, and to glorify 
the will of God. This is my sentiment now, and 
it is the sentiment with which I hope to die. 

" And with my farewell blessing upon them, 
upon their families, upon their parishes, and upon 
my whole diocese, tell them that their dying 
Bishop exhorts them to strive to be men of God : 
— men of peace, men of brotherly-kindness, men 
of charity ; self-denying men, men of purity, men 
of prayer ; men striving to ' perfect holiness in 
the fear of God,' and laboring and preaching with 
an eye single to His glory and the salvation of 
souls." 



CONCL US I ON. 2 7 1 



CONCLUSION. 

If this book be read by any who hold opposite 
opinions, it will, I doubt not, be the subject of 
criticism, and I do not at all deprecate it. If 
there be any view herein presented that is con- 
trary to the truth, let it perish under rebuke. 

By some it will be condemned as calculated to 
stir up memories of events that should pass into 
oblivion. Others will say that it does not become 
an ambassador of the " Prince of Peace " to 
awaken such memories. To all which, I give for 
answer, that the proclamation of truth will always 
arouse the opposition of error, and the enforce- 
ment of right will always provoke the antagonism 
of wrong. All history teaches that no truth has 
ever gained footing in this evil world save by 
putting down error, and no right has ever been 
established save by combating and overthrowing 
wrong. 

This book is " dedicated to the Cause and Main- 
tenance of Truth, Right, and Peace." Truth first, 
then Peace. There is a peace which results from 
the triumph of brute force. This is not the peace 



272 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

that should reign among the children of " our 
Father." 

If this, our country, shall ever be fully equipped 
for her grand mission upon earth, it will only be 
when mutual respect shall prevail, and when the 
great principles upon which the late war was 
waged shall be thoroughly studied, and clearly 
understood. This cannot be unless every man in 
his sphere, and from his own stand-point, shall 
speak out fearlessly, and with more deference to 
truth than to policy. A peace which is not 
founded upon mutual respect is an insult on the 
part of the one section of our country, and a dis- 
honor to the other. 

If I did not believe in my heart that the publi- 
cation of these reminiscences and memoirs would 
in the end — so far as they have any force — pro- 
mote the interests of peace, by demonstration of 
the truth, I would turn these pages into ashes. 

It is not sufficient to say — as is commonly 
said — that " the trouble is now all over, and the 
country is one and undivided : let us bury in the 
grave all disturbing memories." This is all very 
well for the capitalist and the politician. Un- 
happily, their vocations are not much disturbed 
by sentiment. There were great moral questions 
involved in the late conflict. Great men and 
good men went into the contest with clear heads, 



CONCLUSION. 273 

warm hearts, and tender consciences, and they 
have come out of it with the same heads, hearts, 
and consciences. Have we nothing to learn 
from such a struggle ? Has no truth been estab- 
lished ? Is there no moral to such a drama ? 
Was it a fight among brute beasts, that must be 
" clean forgotten and out of mind " ? 

Yes, we have one undivided country. For one, 
I thank God for it. I have never doubted that 
the restoration of the Union was a great necessity 
for the welfare of our country. Man plans for the 
hour: the Almighty Creator plans for the ages. 
But the recognition of this fact does not at all 
affect the right or the wrong of the case, moral 
or political, which is involved in this vast question 
under review. It is only one of the innumerable 
examples which history affords of the marvellous 
wisdom and goodness of Divine Providence, which 
is ever bringing good out of evil — causing even 
the wrath of men and the malice of Satan to bring 
blessings to the children of men. An enemy 
may thrust me through with a sword, designing 
my destruction. Instead of striking a vital point 
in my body, he pierces, we will suppose, a malig- 
nant tumor, which has long been an unknown 
cause of pain and sickness. His thrust gives me 
renewed life, but he intended my death. I thank 
a kind Providence which brought good to me out 



274 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

of intended evil. I do not feel any special thank- 
fulness to my enemy. Take an illustration on a 
larger scale. It was a day of blessing to the 
brethren of Joseph when, under the pinchings of 
hunger, they found corn in the land of Egypt, 
and their brother in the seat of authority. The 
people of Israel were delivered out of much 
tribulation. I do not suppose that the brethren 
of Joseph laid claim to any great merit for having 
sold him into captivity. Their iniquity, I take it, 
was none the less for the mighty good which 
Providence wrought out of their evil. These 
familiar examples illustrate the great principle, 
" Fortuna non mutat genus," which, freely trans- 
lated, may read thus : " The fortunate issue 
of an enterprise does not change its quality or 
kind." But the great mass of people disturb 
themselves very little about the morale of their 
deeds, provided they are successful. 

Then, again, as to the question of propriety and 
decorum on the part of an ambassador of the 
Prince of Peace in treating of themes which may 
possibly excite debate and resentment, I have this 
to answer, — that, personally, the judgment of man 
has no weight with me. "He that judgeth me is 
the Lord." Speaking for myself officially, as an 
ambassador of the Prince of Peace, I have this to 
say, — that, in all that I have written, I have not 



CONCLUSION. 275 

been unmindful of the fact that I stand in this re- 
lation both to man and the Chief Bishop. He, my 
Chief, has given me the keynote to my " Reminis- 
cences." I read His proclamation, " I came not to 
send peace upon earth, but a sword." He who 
does not know how to interpret this grand and far- 
reaching truth may be a sincere Christian, and ear- 
nest follower of his Lord, but I don't think that he 
can carry the standard of his Prince into the con- 
flict for great principles. For myself, I should be 
unwilling to bring out a .book (and this is my first 
and probably last book) which all men would ap- 
prove, and none would antagonize. There are not 
only questions of constitutional principle, but deep 
questions of morals, involved in the matters treated 
of herein. I was a slaveholder, and an ardent 
patriot from the Southern point of view. As such, 
I have nothing to repent of, and nothing to retract. 
I tried to do my full duty in both of these rela- 
tions. I have no quarrel with any man, who, from 
his point of view, considers me, in one of these rela- 
tions, a violator of pure morality, and, in the other, 
a rebel against the government. But, whilst I 
have no quarrel with such a one, I cannot under- 
stand how he can pardon my sin without some 
manifestation of penitence on my part. Treason 
is a great crime, and a traitor should be hung. 
How can any one who considers me a traitor fra- 



276 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

ternize with me, and condone such an offence ? 
Does it not become an ambassador of Christ (and 
because he represents Christ) to purge himself 
from the charge of treason by showing justifica- 
tion of his deeds and thoughts ? 

These are the questions which justify me (speak- 
ing as a minister of Christ, and for the ministry 
of Christ in the South) in setting forth in unam- 
biguous language what I believe in all conscience 
to be the truth. Should the views expressed in 
this volume tend in any measure to bring out the 
truth and the right of the cause which I am vindi- 
cating, then is my design accomplished, and I 
shall hail the peace resulting therefrom as an hon- 
orable and enduring peace, — a peace founded in 
truth and righteousness. 

And now, my children, for whose special behoof 
I have penned these lines, I have but a word 
more to say. I have treated of difficult and deli- 
cate themes. I have used all my endeavors to 
treat every point with entire candor and fidelity 
to truth. I am a fallible man, and may possibly 
have erred in many things treated of. Coming 
generations must pass judgment upon all our pres- 
ent decisions, and may reverse them all. Should 
you, in a clearer light than has been vouchsafed to 
me, reach a conclusion different from mine, then, 
in the name of Truth, Right, and Peace, cling to 



conclusion: 277 

your own convictions, ever looking up to the 
Fountain of all Truth, "The Father of lights," 
and asking for wisdom to perceive, and strength 
to maintain, all that you ought to think and to do. 

I have mused over this subject many years. 
" Whilst musing, the fire has burned ; " and at the 
last I have spoken — God grant — the truth. In 
naught have I extenuated, nor have I set down 
aught in malice. 

And in full mindfulness of human frailty and 
folly, I make mine own the language of St. 
Augustine, — 

" O Domine Dens, quczctmque dixi de Tuo, ag- 
noscant, et Tui ; si qua de Meo, et Tu ignosce, et 
Tuir 



278 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 



MANLINESS. 

At the commencement of this volume, I quoted 
the words of King David to his son Solomon, 
" Be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a 
man." 

I do not know any closing words which would 
be so apposite as those which tell you what it is 
to be a man, and what it is to show one's self a man. 

My publisher writes me that he is preparing for 
a second edition of my "Reminiscences," and 
informs me that I now have an opportunity of 
adding to them. Since reading the book in print, 
much has occurred to me which I would like to 
add in the way of elaboration and illustration. A 
press of other duties renders this impossible. I 
cannot, however, forego the opportunity afforded, 
of giving expression to some thoughts upon a 
question of vast practical importance to the young 
men of the coming generation, — " What consti- 
tutes true manliness ? " 

The ideal of manliness which each one forms to 
himself, will depend upon the degree of intellect- 
ual and moral elevation to which he may have 



MANLINESS. 279 

attained. To the mind of the savage, the suc- 
cessful hunter or the daring warrior presents the 
highest type of manliness. He is the savage lord, 
and rules his tribe by dint of a strong arm, and 
takes leadership as a lion among lions. Hence 
the names by which the savage chief is called, — 
" The Lynx-Eyed," the " Swift of Foot," the 
"Wolf of the Prairie," the "Sitting Bull," etc. 
Such are the names which give expression to the 
savage idea of manliness, — names which link him 
in with the brute, whom he would fain emulate in 
swiftness, fierceness, and force. 

Now, take up your histories of people who have 
emerged from a state of barbarism, and you meet 
with names of leaders of men which give expres- 
sion to higher ideas of greatness and excellence, — 
" the Wise," " the Good," and " the Just." Always 
you may mark the elevation of a people by the 
titles of those to whom they pay highest honor. 
There is an immense stride from the " Sitting 
Bull " to Aristides "the Just." 

If we come into what we call civilized life, and 
begin our observation low down in the strata of 
society, in the atmosphere of saloons and gaming- 
tables, you will find the successful pugilist the 
manliest in the ring : muscle, wind, and pluck 
crown the victor, and encircle him with the girdle 
of honor. Here, in such atmosphere, grow up the 



280 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

boys, who, with open-mouthed admiration, are 
learning their lesson of manliness, — to " swear like 
men," "fight like men," and "take their liquor 
like men." 

Now, come up from these dregs, which lie at 
the bottom of all our social life, — where riot and 
debauchery and brute force reign supreme, — and 
look into a more advanced, but still unregener- 
ate, condition of society. What, in popular esti- 
mation, is it, to show one's self a man ? Is he 
esteemed manliest, who, like his Maker, is long- 
suffering, forbearing, and forgiving ? or is it he 
who maintains the so-called point of honor to the 
last extremity, who will sacrifice every law, human 
and divine, to his heated passions, or the demands 
of a vicious public opinion, and vindicate his man- 
hood by trampling under foot the law of God ? 
See how this spirit flames out in our children 
scarcely fledged ! See how, in their childish 
brawls, they foreshadow their ideas of a coming 
manliness ! 

We are not following the leadings of a sickly 
sentimentalism in setting forth a standard of 
higher manliness. Where must we look, to find 
the most exalted type of humanity ? Who was the 
noblest of the sons of men ? There is but One. 
He stands alone, unapproachable and incompar- 
able. In His presence the most unblushing infi- 






MANLINESS. 28 1 

delity stands admiring, if not adoring — Him the 
Incarnate Word, dwelling among men in the same 
fleshly tabernacle, environed by the same atmos- 
phere, and encompassed by the same temptations. 
He who does not feel the supreme necessity of 
the presence of such an one on earth, not only to 
reveal God to men, but also to make manifest the 
ideal man, has learned but little in regard to 
perfecting his own nature, and comprehends but 
little of man's greatest needs. I am not now 
talking to you of theology and creeds. I am 
speaking of the Man of history, the Man of every 
age, — the Christ. 

Take the greatest man of his era, — the Csesar 
Augustus, who ruled the then known world. The 
chief distinction of that illustrious emperor — all 
that now survives of his memory — is the fact of 
history, that, while he reigned, Christ was born. 
His only fame now is that of the manger and vil- 
lage of Bethlehem, — they indicating the place 
where, he the time when, Christ was born. They 
all — prince, village, and manger — serve alike but 
as landmarks in the track of time, to indicate the 
beginnings of that kingdom of which there shall 
be no end. Without prestige of birth, and with 
"nowhere to lay His head," of obscure life and 
ignominious death, followed by disciples of no re- 
pute, He yet gave birth to a new era in time ; and, 



282 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

among civilized peoples, the centuries do now date 
from His nativity. We cannot discourse of men, 
and leave out of view the Son of man. As well 
speak of mountains, and fail to note that which 
stands loftiest : as well speak of the solar system, 
and take no note of the sun. 

Men may say what they will of creeds and sys- 
tems of theology and philosophy. They may 
deny Deity, and deify matter ; but they cannot 
blot out from history, nor dislodge from the hearts 
of men, the Christ of history, — Him "the Son of 
man ! " No wonder, that, at the inauguration 
of His mission, the heavens were opened, and a 
voice from the " Excellent Glory " proclaimed, 
"This is My beloved Son." Had the heavens 
been silent, the very stones must have cried 
out. 

There was a deep necessity for the advent of 
such a Man. The Divine image in men had been 
defaced, almost obliterated. There were still upon 
earth the men strong to think, strong to work, 
strong to fight ; but where could you look to find 
the man who realized in his own life the Divine 
Image, — the God-mirroring man ? 

I cannot dwell at length upon that wonderful 
life of Christ's on earth, and show, as I would love 
to show, how strong He was to do good, and how 
strong to resist evil ; how sublimely forgetful of 



MANLINESS. 283 

self, and how self-sacrificing in His care for 
others. I touch a single feature of that wondrous 
character, — His forbearance under provocation 
and reproach. I single out this particular feature 
of the manliness of Christ, because it is just here 
that His example stands out in most striking 
contrast with the maxims of the world and the 
passions of men. For, advanced as we may be in 
morals and self-government, society is as yet at an 
immeasurable distance from the precepts and ex- 
ample of the Son of man. True it is that we do 
not, except in our Territories and new settlements, 
decide questions of title to land, etc., by the strong 
hand ; but an unregulated public opinion still con- 
dones, if it does not justify, the appeal to arms in 
the duel or street-brawl. Still is it true to a 
lamentable extent, that men are called upon to 
" show themselves men," and vindicate their man- 
liness, by the exhibition of brute force. 

The duel is passing away before the advance of 
Christian civilization, — chiefly, I fear, because of 
the political disabilities which a participation in 
it involves ; but there is springing up in its place 
the street-brawl, in which men find satisfaction 
for their angry passions. The daily record of 
these bloody encounters is a blot upon the civili- 
zation, not to say the Christianity, of the age. 
The duel had a touch of chivalry, and originally 



284 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

of piety, in its character; for, in olden times, it 
was an appeal to God "to show the right." The 
modern street-brawl is an unmitigated shame. 
The rules of ancient chivalry allowed that a com- 
bat might honorably terminate by the presence, 
on the field, of a lady, a priest, or the king, — the 
presence of the latter representing the supremacy 
of Law. Is the omnipresence of the King of 
kings no reality to one who has sworn fealty to 
that Sovereign ? 

Whence comes that imperious law which holds 
our men to such a fearful issue ; which compels 
them, as I have often known, to stifle the best 
feelings of their hearts, to insult the majesty of 
human law, and to put their sacrilegious hands 
upon that prerogative which God Himself pro- 
claims, "is Mine" ? If I know whence it is, it 
must be because men imagine that their honor — 
their manliness — is involved. Is this indeed so? 
Waive all consideration of the reason, the good- 
citizenship, the piety of it, if possible, does manli- 
ness require it ? By what rule shall we try this 
question ? Which way shall we go to find it ? 
Shall we go upward, and regard man after that 
Divine likeness in which he was made ? or shall 
we go downward, and seek in the resemblance 
which he bears to the lower creation, the source 
of that unruled passion which impels him, upon 



MANLINESS. 285 

every provocation, to resort to brute force in 
deadly combat ? 

Here we find it, — low down in the unreasoning 
passion and brute instinct which locks the beasts 
of the field in deadly conflict ; in the venomous 
reptile, which strikes its fang into whatever 
crosses its path or purpose ; in the savage state, 
where one's manliness is measured by his unre- 
lenting hate to an enemy, and his manly prowess 
by the number of scalps that hang on the walls of 
his wigwam. 

The young Arab — so the story goes — begins 
to attain the stature of a man. At the accepted 
time, his father taunts him with being "a woman." 
The young savage understands too well that he is 
now called upon to "show himself a man." All 
the brute within him is stirred. He takes the 
instrument of death, waits until the shades of 
night have fallen, and prowls about the tent of 
some hereditary foe. When his practised ear 
catches the breathing of assured sleep, he leaps 
the enclosure, puts his weapon to head or heart : 
a sure thrust or firm pull makes him " a man ! " 
Next morning his tribe greets him " a man ; " 
woman will smile upon him now, and listen to his 
vows (has she ceased even now to smile upon such 
men ? ) ; and he takes his first degree in a savage 
manliness. 



286 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

We have gone low down in the scale of crea- 
tion : let us go upward, and see how this matter 
looks from another and higher stand-point. 

More than eighteen centuries ago, there was a 
child born in an obscure village of the East. A 
wonderful lineage was His — conceived by the 
Holy Ghost, and born of a virgin mother. As He 
grew in stature, He grew in wisdom, and in favor 
with God and man. When He was anointed for 
His holy mission, God the Father sealed Him. 
The Divine Spirit descended upon Him in the 
form of a dove. He came as the Prince of peace 
to a world in revolt. Lest the symbol of the dove 
should fail to herald His mission, there came a 
voice from the "Excellent Glory," and made 
proclamation, " This is My beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased." 

What was the manliness of Him who was thus 
ushered into the world in the form and with the 
nature of man ? Surely we may learn something 
from One with whom the Heavenly Father was 
"well pleased." When He was reviled, He re- 
viled not again : when He suffered, He threatened 
not. Any man can revile again, when reviled ; 
but how sublime the forbearance which would 
rather save than destroy an enemy ! 

When He was at last hunted down by those 
who would drown in death the voice they could 



MANLINESS. 28? 

not answer, there was one act of private ven- 
geance, — a follower of His smote a servant of the 
high priest, and cut off his ear. The crowd 
around thought, doubtless, that there was one 
manly man among the disciples ; and yet this very 
man, a few moments later, denied his Master at 
the taunt of a girl. Christ bore it all ; told His 
follower to put up his sword ; stretched forth His 
hand, and healed the wounded servant ; lifted up 
His voice in prayer for His murderers ; in His 
sublime pity sought an argument for them, — 
" Father, forgive them : they know not what they 
do." 

We gaze upon this sublime compassion as it 
merges into the Infinite pity, and the conviction 
becomes overwhelming that this Son of man was 
no creation of men's imagining. The mind can- 
not conceive of that which it has no experience, 
and for which it has no analogy. The old mythol- 
ogies create for us men and women like ourselves, 
with all our little prides and passions. We greet 
the Christ with an adoring wonder. At infinite 
distance we strive to follow Him. We would 
fain sit at His sacred feet, and strive, in our poor 
way, to be like Him. He is the true man, " Ecce 
Homo!" 

Now go with me from the lowest grade of 
human nature, — the savage in his war-paint, 



288 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

nursing his hate as a virtue ; having no word for 
forgiveness, because not knowing what it is. 
Trace this nature as it emerges from the barba- 
rous into the Christian life (and there are men 
who fear God, and love their fellow-men) : trace it 
through all its gradations of excellence until you 
reach the Son of man, the " lost Image " of God 
the Father, and say, " What is it to show one's 
self a man ?" 

But men will plead — what will they plead ? 
The necessity of self-defence ; the needful limita- 
tions of forbearance, where it ceases to be a vir- 
tue ; the weakness of resolve, and the irresistible 
force of public opinion. Yes, I am not insensible 
to the force of such appeals. I know too well 
what human weakness, under strong temptation, 
may allow a man to do. But, whatever may be 
our imperfections, let us not lower the perfection 
of the Christian standard. Plead, then, what- 
ever you will, of human imperfection, for not 
being as you ought to be in the way of forbear- 
ance, but take care that you plead not manliness. 
For the sake of Him, the manliest, — the Man that 
would not hurt His fellow-men, but would die, and 
did die, to do them good, — do not plead manliness ! 
If I have wronged another, it is manly in me to 
confess and repair the wrong. He is not a true 
man who will not confess his fault. If another 



MANLINESS. 289 

has wronged me, it is more than common manli- 
ness — it is almost divine — to forgive. 

The life of Christ was not a long life, — thirty- 
years of household duty, three of public ministra- 
tion. Learn, then, this great truth, — that the 
value of life must be reckoned, not only by its 
length, but by its depth and breadth ; as I have 
before said, "not only by its extent, but by its 
intent." 

.He accumulated no earthly treasure, but He 
has left us heirs of all things. 

He gained no fame in His day, and yet 
He founded a kingdom which shall know no 
end. 

His own people rejected Him, and yet gener- 
ation after generation rise up and call Him 
blessed. 

No tongue, save that of a malefactor, confessed 
Him when He died ; and yet now, myriads of all 
tongues and climes and ages do bow at the men- 
tion of His name. 

The moral, then, of the whole, my children, — 
and with this I close the volume, — is this : Give 
not much heed to the opinions or judgments of 
the present hour. A supreme tribunal will re- 
view present decisions, and mayhap will reverse 
them. 

The moral of the whole is this : That is the 



29O REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

longest life which in its aims and achievements 
reaches the farthest ; and that is the manliest life 
which is the most self-sacrificing and unselfish. 

That is the life of Christ, the Way, the Truth, 
and the Life. 



APPENDIX. 



Letters of John Stewart referred to in the "Reminiscences." 

" Richmond, Va., July 27, 1858. 

"My dear Friend, — Have you accepted any place 
yet? " (I had several invitations before me at the time.) 
" I hope not, for I have a plan for your consideration and 
prayer. It has been long in my head -, but I have waited 
for the removal of obstacles, which Providence has now 
done. It embraces country-life, farm-employment, plenty 
of work in God's vineyard in building up a church, and a 
support while it is going on in its infancy or weakness 
— given in such a way as not to come in conflict with 
your entire independence as a gentleman or a minister, 
or to weaken your hold upon the affection of your con- 
gregation. 

" Details are for conference, not for a letter. All I can 
say is, while I am conscious of some selfishness in wish- 
ing you for my pastor, yet, as far as I know myself, my 
main desire is to show my love and gratitude to Him 
who has done so much for me by bringing His blessed 
gospel to be preached to the poor black and white 
around me. 

" To insure any chance of success, it is necessary, that, 
outwardly, I should not be too prominent, but, while you 

291 



292 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER. 

give yourself to your high and sacred duties, it would be 
my business to see that your support was secured, and 
secured in such a way that I would not be known in it, 
and that I could not change it if I would. 

"Think over this, and do not hastily throw it aside. 
If after spreading it, like King Hezekiah, before the Lord, 
asking and obtaining His counsel, you decide against 
it, I shall bow to His decision, waiting upon Him to 
make my path clear. 

" I feel now, in every day of idleness or postponement, 
as if I were one of those ' wicked and slothful servants ' 
whose fate I wish to shun." 

Again, under date of 30th of July, he writes 
thus : — 

" I have just had the pleasure of reading your letter 
hurriedly in this place of business. I write that I was 
necessarily vague as to details, for in their adjustment my 
mind would be very elastic to suit all the circumstances 
which might arise. 

" The main thought is this, — that here am I in the 
midst of a poor heathenized, or rapidly becoming so, pop- 
ulation, white and black ; with material all around far more 
promising to human eye for the formation of an endur- 
ing church than in three-fourths of the recently formed 
country-churches in Virginia; that the natural process 
being for the gospel to leaven parts adjacent, radiating 
from the towns as centres until finally it overspreads 
the length and breadth of the land, why should it not do 



APPENDIX. 293 

so, or begin to do so, in the neighborhood of Richmond ? 
I see no reason why it should not be, that, with the 
proper man, — that is, with love to Christ, and, with 
Christ, for human souls, with energy, and what is called tact 
and good sense, good feeling, and a good way of showing 
all things, so as to draw and touch that strangely compli- 
cated machine, the human heart, — we may not ask and 
look for the blessing of God ; and with this, success is 
certain. Not such as will make much stir or noise in 
this world, — though, it may be, in heaven, where fame is 
worth having. I am not blinded by personal attachment 
when I say that I think you are that man." 

And then, again, in his letter of date Dec. 13, 
1858, he writes, — 

"Yours of the 8th just reached me. While I held 
it in my hand, before opening it, my heart was lifted 
to Him 'from Whom cometh our help,' that, if it 
was an acceptance, His blessing would rest upon His 
own work, and cause it to prosper ; and if it was a rejec- 
tion, that still His blessing would rest upon His own 
work, and make my path plain before me what to do, 
meanwhile waiting patiently for an opening or an indica- 
tion of what He would have me to do. 

" Your letter delivers me from all doubt. My views 
have undergone no change. Whatever difficulty I may 
have felt, or modesty in urging, was on your account ; for 
I felt the truth of what you said, that ' your risk was the 
greatest.' But now that you have decided, and, I be- 



294 REMINISCENCES OF A GRANDFATHER 

lieve, have been led by God to decide, I have increased 
faith and hope that, in spite of the dross which mingled 
with my motives, He will for His name's sake give us 
His blessing rich and durable ; though it may come, not 
in the way flesh and blood would like at the beginning. 
These crosses may be necessary to put out the ' wood, 
hay, and stubble ' which may be mingled with my mo- 
tives ; for, although I am not conscious of cherishing any, 
yet He who searches the heart may see stubble where I 
only see wheat." 

Whoso is wise will ponder these things ; and 
may God give him grace to go and do likewise ! 



Note. — One striking difference, among many others, between 
Christ and the so-called Vicar of Christ, the Bishop of Rome, 
deserves to be noted. Christ ever fed the multitudes : it requires 
multitudes to provide for the wants of His Vicar. 



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